Katekyo Illusionist Mammon!
by Aines445
Summary: The current boss of the Vongola, the Ninth, is of old age and ready for retirement. However, before he can truly give away his position, he must make sure the next boss is prepared for the responsibilities that await him. With that in mind, he decides to task the mission of tutoring Tsunayoshi Sawada to... Mammon, of the Varia?
1. Target 0

**First Words:**

* * *

First of all, hello there and welcome to this fanfic of mine! Hopefully you'll enjoy it ^^ Disclaimer: the cover art is not mine (it's by a talented pixiv user called Ohagi, and the name's written in hiragana; do check that out if you're interested in that user's art), and I obviously don't own KHR either.

As you've seen from the title and the summary, KIM (Katekyo Illusionist Mammon!) will basically be all about Mammon becoming Tsuna's home tutor instead of Reborn, and how exactly that will destroy canon: it's as difficult as it sounds. However, I am willing to take up this challenge because I absolutely love seeing how canon would be like if certain changes were applied to it: besides, I love seeing different characters interact with each other too and I don't think Tsuna and Mammon have ever talked much in the actual series, if at all.

Even so, I have to admit that I'm really nervous: the amount of skill, creativity and headcanons (there will be many of them) required to pull this off is tremendous, so I can only hope I'll manage it. Whatever the case, this chapter (target) may not be very long, but the next ones are all really lengthy so keep that in mind; this is just the prologue. I don't think this section will be as long in the next targets, so don't be too scared of this^^' Beyond that, it's worth noting that in this story, Mammon is a dude, and this is because I honestly think he's a guy: I mean, he does have the KHR female loss rate (as in, he lost all his battles XD), but by his not-very-girly way of speaking, somewhat sexist comments ("She's just hiding how hideous her corpse looks: female illusionists do that all the time"), and the fact that he was assigned to the male category of the popularity poll, I'm gonna assume Mammon is a dude. Hopefully you're fine with this: his gender doesn't really matter anyway.

"..." = Dialogue

'...' = Quotation marks

 _Itallics = Thoughts, emphasis_

 **Bold = Intensity, loud words**

 _ **Bold and Itallics = Extra intensity and loudness**_

 **. . . = Pause**

Enjoy!

* * *

 **Target 0: That Illusionist from the Varia**

* * *

When Mammon had been told that Timoteo, Vongola's Ninth Boss, wanted to speak to him personally, he was admittedly surprised. The Varia was an autonomous, underground assassination squad and, as that implied, there weren't many chances for them to even visit the main Headquarters of the Vongola, possessing their own. Their contact with its members was fairly low as well: reports and mission requests would usually be sent by letter, and only members with high positions (like the Guardians or the Boss himself) were able to write those.

Due to that, Mammon couldn't help but suspect the Ninth's motivations, and he was right in doing so: of all things he could have been called for, it was for a mission, but it was no normal mission. It was considered so important that, if unsuccessful, it could bring about the end of the Vongola, and so hard that the Ninth assigned it as 'SSS-ranked', which was a non-existent ranking.

... That mission, disclosed to Mammon with a smile, was to tutor the next Vongola Boss in all areas until he'd become fit for the position.

Needless to say that such a mission was nothing he would ever want to do, so he thought of refusing it immediately. Mammon was no babysitter: he was an assassin, and the last thing he would ever expect from that job was training some boy to become a mafia boss. Not only that, but doing such a thing directly interfered with his own Boss' will, as Xanxus wanted to become Vongola's next boss: even if he was frozen at the time, Mammon was not about to betray him in such a way. Besides, there were many other strong people available for such a job... or were there?

Reborn, by far the best candidate for such a mission, was in the middle of training another mafia boss, Dino Cavallone, as he still had the crippling flaw of being unable to fight without a subordinate nearby: pulling him out of that mission could ruin the Vongola's Alliance with the Cavallone Family.

Lal Mirch was part of the CEDEF, so she (technically) didn't even belong to the Vongola: she had no obligation to accept such a mission, and since she had a high position within that organization, she was fairly busy.

The other Arcobaleno were out of the Ninth's reach, as some didn't even belong to an allied family and others did not want to be involved in those sorts of mafia affairs: none of them could or would accept tutoring a boss from a family they were neutral or hostile towards.

Beyond that, any of the Ninth's Guardians were also out of the question, being not only just as busy, but having also aged throughout the years: the Arcobaleno were the best pick for teaching the next Vongola Boss indefinitely, as they were the strongest in the world and were permanently stuck as infants.

Ultimately, the only convenient option the Ninth had at his disposal was Mammon: he was an Arcobaleno, part of the Vongola and not as occupied, as the Varia was laying (especially) low from their lack of a Boss and lack of trust from the rest of the Vongola, being only able to take occasional missions. Mammon had realized that, but it didn't mean he had an obligation to accept such a troublesome duty.

... That is, if the Ninth hadn't offered him such good payment for it.

The amount of Euros he was going to receive just for accepting the mission was more than he had expected, and Mammon of all people had _never_ had low expectations when it came to money. Double the amount had also been promised to him if he were to complete the mission which, combined, could reach, or even _overcome_ Mammon's collection of money: the mission was that important; tutoring some kid was _that_ crucial.

The fact that the Ninth was so desperate to get Mammon to accept the mission he exploited his love for money only meant that he truly had no one better to take the job. Mammon was aware that he was being taken advantage of, and he still had the repercussions of accepting to tutor a candidate for the position his Boss wanted to take in mind, but money was money, so his answer was obvious:

"... I'll take it."

* * *

 **. . .**

* * *

Even if he was swayed by money, Mammon did not simply accept the mission of tutoring the apparent next boss of the Vongola without any thought. **"Voooi,** did I just hear that wrong or did you just tell me you accepted to tutor some random fucking trash to become the next Vongola Boss?!"

With that in mind, Mammon had returned to the Varia's Headquarters to report the mission to Squalo, who had been appointed as a temporary leader. "I couldn't just refuse a paid job offered by the Ninth himself," Mammon defended, "Besides, this could be a chance for us."

"Huh? A chance, you say?!" However, Squalo wasn't convinced: in his point of view, Mammon was practically declaring himself a traitor, which required a whole lot of courage. If he weren't such an important and long-standing member of the Varia, Squalo would have slashed him where he stood, but he decided to have some faith in Mammon.

After all, Mammon was no idiot: he wouldn't simply rush to his death for no reason; he definitely had some plan in mind. "Exactly. Think about it: if I'm in charge of the growth of the Boss' rival candidate, can't I make it impossible for him to get in our way? By 'tutoring' him well and, when you release the Boss and devise a plan to overthrow the Ninth, killing him afterwards, I can accomplish that. If, by desperation, the Ninth ends up taking the Arcobaleno Reborn out of his current mission, it'll only be troublesome on our end," Mammon explained, "It's better to prevent wasting our time killing weaklings than waiting for them to get in over their heads and try to counter us: basically, no resistance is better than pointless resistance."

It was a fairly convincing argument, Squalo reasoned, but it was not enough. "Vooi, won't you make us look even more suspicious by failing to train him properly?! If they think you're half-assing it, they'll obviously replace you!" Squalo pointed his sword at Mammon as if it were his finger, scowling at him.

Mammon was unfazed; in fact, he was smirking. "And you think I can't make it so they don't notice? Who do you think I am, Squalo?" Squalo kept the same scowl while simply staring at Mammon, as if to see if there was anything else he could say back to him.

 **. . .**

Squalo grinned. "Heh, I guess you have a point there." He lowered his sword. "Then fine: to avoid any future trash that could try to get in our way, I'll give you permission to tutor the Ninth's candidate for the position of Tenth Vongola Boss! You better fucking succeed this one, you hear me?! You'll also have to send me the same letters that you're gonna send to the Ninth of your 'progress'; don't you dare forget a single one of 'em!"

"Hmph, of course," Mammon answered as his body started fading into black mist; despite that, his voice could still be heard. "I'll be leaving today, so tell the others about my absence for me." His voice echoed in the room, and it seemed to grow quieter as the mist disappeared through the door. "Goodbye..."

Finding himself alone in the meeting room, Squalo's expression turned serious. "Just what exactly is that old man planning...?"

* * *

 **. . .**

* * *

Meanwhile, in the Ninth's office, one of his Guardians asked him, "Are you sure about this? Even if he is technically a member of the Vongola, that Arcobaleno is from the Varia; who knows what he could be planning. In addition, because of him, more than half of our funds will be gone."

Timoteo simply smiled, still sitting on his chair. "I know," he answered, "Although there were certainly better choices for the job, I've ultimately decided on him: that is indeed quite the gamble but if it's for the good of the Vongola, I'm more than willing to go through with it."

"Besides," he added, "when he grows up and becomes the Boss, surely he'll be able to recover all that I've spent on his tutor, no?"

... The Guardians only stared at his Boss blankly, observing how his seemingly innocent smile had widened after uttering those words.

* * *

 **Author's Notes:**

* * *

And so, everything falls into place for this story to start! As you already noticed, this story will be about Mammon becoming Tsuna's home tutor instead of Reborn, and what changes that would bring to Tsuna's life: it's a what if of sorts that I would certainly like to execute well.

In terms of tone, it won't be too serious, just like KHR: at least, I'd like the mood to be one of the only things similar to canon… maybe; Mammon isn't as silly as Reborn, after all. To be honest, I love Mammon, but he's really hard to write: I hope I'll be able to portray him well in this story because there'd be no point to it if he weren't in-character.

Seriously though, I'm not even sure as to why he collects money: because 'life repeats eternally'...? What do you mean with that, are you saying that you collect money because life's on a loop? So, I guess he thinks money doesn't reset as if his loop of a life worked like a new game plus? I guess so, since that would make sense... kind of: I mean, if he could keep the money he'd collect, he'd be filthy rich by his tenth loop or something.

... Or maybe it's actually in the logic of, "Get rich enough to enjoy the current loop of my life to the fullest?" Argh, I don't get this guy! But don't worry, I'll study him hard so as to wrap my brain around his weird logic, or at least try! For this story to succeed, I must comprehend the character that is Mammon to the fullest!

Wish me luck? And, well, hopefully you'll look forward to the next target ^^


	2. Target 1

**First Words:**

* * *

 **Tsuna 3 - Thank you! I couldn't find any stories like this myself (where another arcobaleno became the home tutor; I found similar things though, I guess), and that's why I wrote this one ^^ But yeah, if Lal or Colonello were the ones training Tsuna, there probably wouldn't be that much of a difference besides the lack of Dying Will Bullets, so I do agree that seeing others like Skull, Verde, Luche or Mammon would be much more interesting: in this case, I happened to pick Mammon because I started wondering how that would affect Tsuna. Whatever the case, thank you for reviewing!**

 **Reader - Don't worry, I totally understood your every word ^^ I really like Mammon too, and wondered the same thing, making me write this! Hopefully it'll be able to live up to your expectations! Either way, thank you for reviewing!**

... I am honestly thrown aback by the wonderful reception this story got from only the first chapter: this got 8 reviews, 20 followers, 7 favorites and got put in 1 community! Seriously, I teared up a little by seeing people looking forward to this idea, it just makes me so grateful: I could announce who followed the story or put it in my favorites but I'm not sure if that's too intrusive, so I'll just thank you all knowing you know who I'm talking about ;D Also, should I publicly say which community added this story or am I not supposed to? It's the first time this ever happened so I'm not sure!

Though this makes me really happy, I also got really nervous: what if what I did is actually not up to anyone's expectations at all? I mean, I like the chapters I've been writing and think they're at the very least decent, but I'm still really scared of disappointing someone since this idea is so admittedly good: if it were on some other writer's hands, it would probably be executed in a completely different manner; I don't think everyone would go about it the same way. That's probably what makes it so good though, but also a point that makes me on edge (no pun intended) ^^' Whatever the case, I'll think positive! If you didn't know, the last chapter's (target's) title was actually a reference to the title of the first chapter of KHR, "That Guy from Italy"; in here, it's, "That Illusionist from the Varia" ;D

No one pointed it out though, so I guess it wasn't that obvious... Also, these target's titles are gonna be me trying my hardest to mimic the anime's style, so except cringe-worthy stuff. I totally told you that these notes weren't gonna be long, but I guess I was wrong...

Anyway, enjoy! ^^

* * *

 **Target 1: What?! Kyoko-chan?! The Ultimate Test**

* * *

Namimori, Japan.

There was nothing of note in that town at first glance but, as Mammon had gotten to know, that was where the apparent next boss of the Vongola lived. He had already arrived there and had decided that before commencing his mission, he would observe a day of his future pupil's life so as to pinpoint his main flaws or strengths.

His name, or so Mammon had heard from the Ninth, was Tsunayoshi Sawada, and he happened to be Iemitsu Sawada's son: no wonder he had been picked, Mammon figured. Iemitsu Sawada was the External Advisor, which meant that he was just as important as the Boss himself when it came to making crucial decisions. Not only that, but it was also said that he was a descendant of the First Vongola Boss: the fact that he was a candidate for the position of Tenth Boss was not preposterous in the slightest.

It was only morning and Mammon was standing on top of a street pole, the one closest to Tsunayoshi Sawada's house. Supposedly, it was time for him to go to school: from the information he got on him, he was only in middle school. However, he had yet to come out of his house, though noise had definitely been heard. **"Ow!"**

The pained voice that could be heard even from outside the house belonged to a boy, and Mammon was positive that boy was Tsunayoshi Sawada: he had no siblings, after all. He decided to take a closer look at what was happening inside, since it seemed like the boy was going to take his time leaving it.

As Mammon made himself look like a simple bird to the eyes of others with his illusions, he floated over to one of the house's windows. The window he had positioned himself in had a view of the kitchen and the dining room, which seemed to be connected. Inside, a woman with short brown hair seemed to be washing the dishes: it was Tsunayoshi Sawada's mother, Mammon noted.

He decided to look in another direction, and was barely able to see his future pupil standing up from the floor and leaving the room; had he tripped? Whatever the case, it seemed like Tsunayoshi Sawada was leaving so Mammon decided to follow, hearing the sound of the front door open. "I'll be going now!" Tsunayoshi Sawada shouted to his mother and ran out the door, having probably realized that he was going to be late to school if he didn't hurry up.

Although muffled, his mother's voice could be heard, saying, "See you later!" Mammon merely hopped off the window and got on top of the house's fence to give him chase, watching him run in a panicked manner.

His speed was below average: in mafia standards, he was as slow as a snail; an improvement in that area was necessary.

After a while, Tsunayoshi Sawada slowed down, panting tiredly. **"Woof woof!"** He jumped back in fear of those sounds, finding its source to be a small dog kept inside a house, close to its gates. Mammon had simply stopped moving at a fair distance from him, watching such a reaction from the supposed boss candidate.

His stamina was below average, if not just plain bad: in mafia standards, he wouldn't be able to race against a toddler; Mammon could win without floating.

His courage was atrocious: he was even scared of little dogs; completely unbefitting a future mafia boss.

... Needless to say that improvement was also necessary in those areas. Shaking, Tsunayoshi Sawada took a few awkward steps forward, as far away from the dog as possible. It was still barking at him, which seemed to be why he was so tense in the first place.

However, before he could completely get away from that area, a girl with short, light brown hair came up to them. "Ah, so cute...!" she said, approaching the dog with a smile on her face.

"K-Kyoko-chan...!" He seemed greatly surprised at seeing her, and knew her name. Not only that, but he seemed somewhat flustered as well; he stopped shaking. "G-good morning," he greeted, his eyes cast on the ground out of embarrassment, not having wanted Kyoko of all people to see him scared of a small dog.

Kyoko, who was petting the dog through the house's gates, turned to Tsuna. "Ah, Sawada-kun! Good morning!" Her cheerful smile directed at him seemed to make him even more nervous and embarrassed, despite the fact that she had only greeted him.

... Tsunayoshi Sawada definitely liked that girl, Mammon noted. "Wait, I was running late...!" Kyoko said, having forgotten about school. "I'm sorry, Sawada-kun, but I'll have to hurry now; I'll see you in class!" She waved at him as she ran, leaving him alone with the dog again, seemingly processing the situation.

"Ah... I wish I could've talked more with Kyoko-chan..." he mumbled depressingly before reminding himself of the dog and dashing away.

Mammon merely glanced at that dog before following Tsunayoshi Sawada, the day having just begun...

* * *

 **. . .**

* * *

As expected, Tsunayoshi Sawada had arrived to classes 10 minutes late: being punctual was important, so hopefully that had been an exception to the norm. Mammon was peeking at his classroom from a window, invisible to any normal person, and listening to what was happening in there.

For his future pupil, things weren't going well: classmates would call him 'No-Good Tsuna' without hesitation, which meant that he already had a terrible reputation. All questions that he had been called for had been answered incorrectly and, somehow, he had scored an 11 on his most recent Math test.

His knowledge and intelligence were atrocious: no normal person could manage to score that badly while making an effort; improvement in those areas was absolutely necessary.

In addition, Tsunayoshi Sawada seemed to have no friends whatsoever, and was forced into tasks he didn't have to do by some of his classmates.

His social skills and willpower were atrocious: he could not stand up for himself and had no charisma; improvement in those areas was also absolutely necessary.

At his PE class, Tsunayoshi Sawada was deliberatly ignored by his classmates, as they did not want him as a part of their team. He also failed miserably at every other exercise and the team he ended up in had lost against the other.

His overall physical capabilities were atrocious.

His overall social capabilities were atrocious.

His overall intellect was atrocious.

In fact, everything about him was atrocious: 'No-Good Tsuna' was starting to seem like a perfect nickname for the boy in Mammon's mind. Tsunayoshi Sawada, Tsuna for short, had no strengths, or at least none that Mammon had been able to pick up on in the time he had spent observing him: he only had weaknesses, all of them essential for being a mafia boss or even for living in general.

Really, Tsuna was amazing: Mammon had never seen someone be that bad at everything, and that was only his impression from one day of classes. _No wonder the Ninth paid me so well,_ Mammon thought, _Tutoring someone like this would at the very least require that amount._ If anything, Mammon felt somewhat ripped off: a mission that hard might have even required more money than what he was offered. Truly, only the strongest Arcobaleno could have enough patience to handle someone as No-Good as Tsuna.

As Mammon followed Tsuna, who was walking home from school, he started to fully understand why the Ninth had told him his mission was 'SSS-ranked'...

* * *

 **. . .**

* * *

On one hand, just the mere thought of tutoring such a hopeless case was repulsive to Mammon. But, on the other hand, the fact that Tsuna was such a terrible candidate for the next Vongola Boss made his plan much easier: he wouldn't even need to pretend to teach him because seriously doing so would hold almost the same effects; he could buy as much time as needed until Xanxus' awakening and the advancement of Varia's plans. Afterwards, Mammon would only need to kill Tsuna off to make sure nothing would get in the way, which was the easiest part: although it wasn't pleasant to think that he wasn't going to get the rest of the money promised to him by the Ninth, he had no choice but be content with what he had already received.

When Tsuna reached his house, he greeted his mother and went upstairs to his room; Mammon simply floated to its window. Tsuna was changing out of his uniform, seemingly more relaxed than before: it was no surprise that he didn't like going to school, if he had such a reputation. After he did so, Tsuna sighed, tired from his day and, with dull eyes, headed over to a shelf that was above his bed.

Mammon knew that from then on, nothing of interest would happen for the rest of the day; he wasn't just going to observe Tsuna killing time either. With that in mind, a test was in order: although he doubted he could ever be tricked, there were still chances of him not showing his true potential to others for some reason, which would be admittedly troublesome for Mammon.

As Tsuna settled on his bedroom's table reading manga, Mammon left his window and floated towards the front door. He knocked on it and made himself look like that girl Tsuna liked, Kyoko or so she was called, while waiting to be answered.

After a while, someone did open the door and, predictably, it was Tsuna's mother. "Oh my, a student from Tsu-kun's school? Who could you be?" she asked, looking somewhat surprised.

'Kyoko' smiled. "I came over to see Sawada-kun! At least, I was pretty sure this is where he lived... Could it be that I got it wrong...?" 'Kyoko' made a worried expression afterwards, conveying that 'she' had doubts on Tsuna's location; it was a lie, of course.

"Oh no, you've got it right," Tsuna's mother reassured with a smile, "this is the Sawada residence. Come on in! Tsu-kun's upstairs right now, so I'll call him over for you."

'Kyoko' only nodded before entering the house, letting Tsuna's mother close the door behind 'her'. Mammon, as Kyoko, took in his surroundings, knowing that he would be getting used to them within the time he'd be tutoring Tsuna. Faintly, he could hear his mother shout at the bottom of the stairs, "Tsu-kun! A friend came to see you!"

"Hmph," he uttered, Kyoko's voice making it sound very strange. _What a naive person; no wonder her son is a loser,_ Mammon thought, but put on a smile again when Tsuna's mother turned to 'Kyoko'.

After all, no person possessing common sense would right away assume a random student to be their son's friend: if anything, the likelihood of it being a bully was much higher, in Tsuna's case. "He'll be downstairs soon enough, so don't worry; I'll be at the kitchen if you need me!" She left after saying that, seemingly in high spirits.

... Just thinking about having to talk to someone like Tsuna's mother on a daily basis annoyed Mammon but, having to tutor her son, he would probably have no choice. Mammon simply leaned on a wall, waiting for Tsuna. Finally hearing Tsuna's footsteps as he went down the stairs, he immediately froze when he saw 'Kyoko' nearby, standing in his house. "Ah, Sawada-kun!" 'She' smiled at him cheerfully. "Hello!"

"K-Kyoko-chan...?!" As expected, Tsuna was not taking 'Kyoko's' arrival very well: from depressed, to happy, to depressed again, he stared at 'her' for a while, most likely processing the fact that 'she' was right there. "Um, w-w-what did you come here for?" he stammered while blushing, clearly flustered. _Kyoko-chan is in my house...!_ he thought in bliss, finding it too good to be true.

Despite it being according to plan, Mammon still found that behavior from Tsuna repulsive, but did not show it in the slightest outwardly. "To see you!" 'Kyoko' simply answered. _Kyoko-chan came... to see me?! No-Good Tsuna?! I mean, I wouldn't imagine her coming over to my house for any other reason, but why would she want to see me? Do I even care, Kyoko-chan is talking to me! Ah, her smile is so cute..._

"Hey," 'Kyoko' snapped Tsuna out of his thoughts on purpose, wanting to get his full attention. "How about we go upstairs, to your room?"

... Tsuna's cheeks reddened further; in fact, his whole face was red. _G-go upstairs...?! To my room?! No way, it can't be...! Am I dreaming right now?!_ Tsuna pinched his cheek, but only ended up hurting himself. "Ow!" _This isn't a dream!_

"Sawada-kun?" 'Kyoko' wore a worried expression, which turned even sadder as 'she' looked towards the floor. "Was it bad of me to ask that...?"

Tsuna immediately shook his head. "No, no, not at all!" 'Kyoko's' negative emotions seemed to especially affect him, just as Mammon had expected. "I mean, i-if you want to, then... s-sure, let's go." Tsuna couldn't even face her as he said that, still looking awfully pathetic in front of Mammon.

His social capabilities had been proved to be as bad as Mammon had observed in school: his lack of confidence was unbecoming of a mafia boss.

'Kyoko' giggled as she ran up the stairs, startling Tsuna. "W-wait, Kyoko-chan...!" He followed 'her', tripping in the process. **"Wah!"** While 'Kyoko' was already opening the door to his hideously messy room (at least it wasn't as bad as Bel's, Mammon reasoned), Tsuna had yet to even get to the first floor.

However, he made an effort and ran up again, catching up to a smiling 'Kyoko' despite seeming somewhat tired. "What... What are you doing?" he asked.

"Hmmm? What do you mean? I'm going in your room, just like I told you," 'Kyoko' answered as if clueless, walking over to Tsuna's bed and sitting on it.

Tsuna's physical capabilities seemed to be just as bad as Mammon had observed: a mafia boss who couldn't even stand firm on his feet was, ultimately, nothing more than pathetic.

With that in mind, there was one parameter left. Before letting Tsuna say anything, Kyoko started, "By the way, Sawada-kun, I've haven't been able to solve this one problem you had to answer for Math class; could you help me out? I mean, you did go see what you had wrong after answering, right?" 'Kyoko' spoke as if that was obvious, though there was no chance whatsoever of Tsuna ever doing such a thing.

"Hu-huh?" _Kyoko-chan's asking for my help with Math?! Math, of all things?! There's no way I'd ever know...!_ Tsuna thought, seemingly panicked for a moment as he stared incredulously at 'Kyoko's' innocent expression. _Then why would she...?_

 _Kyoko-chan's acting strange..._ Due to the sudden shift in emotions from agitated to confused, 'Kyoko' asked, "Is something wrong?"

While it was proved that his lack of intellect was real, it seemed like Tsuna was catching on to something, and Mammon was aware of that. Tsuna stared at 'Kyoko' some more, making 'her' give him a concerned look. "Sawada-kun...?" 'She' smiled nervously afterwards, in an attempt to lighten the suddenly tense mood.

"Who... are you?" Tsuna's eyebrows furrowed, a serious expression on his face.

 _So he ended up noticing? Looks like his perception is not as atrocious as everything else,_ Mammon thought and smirked at Tsuna while still looking like Kyoko. "Hmph, it sure took you long enough to figure it out," Mammon remarked with Kyoko's voice, "I've been acting suspicious from the start." That was a true statement; Mammon hadn't been serious.

After all, he was merely testing his future pupil: if he had gone all out in deceiving him, there would be no point. "W-What did you do to Kyoko-chan?!" Tsuna asked, taking a few shaking steps back in fear and anger.

"I didn't do anything to her," Mammon answered, "If anything, she's probably at her own house, doing whatever; it's really none of my business anyway." He had a disinterested expression on his face, making his illusion of Kyoko replicate it. "Well, since I've got what I wanted, I guess I'll leave for now."

Tsuna was shocked: the stranger in front of him seemed to be telling him the truth, despite how outrageous it was that he had somehow taken Kyoko's form while having done nothing to her at the same time. Yet, somehow, he could tell the stranger wasn't making anything up, even if he was more than what anyone would consider suspicious. "Wait, what do you mean?!" Tsuna asked, genuinely wanting answers for that; with his knowledge, he was unable to properly make out the situation.

"You'll know later..." Kyoko's voice had started seeming more and more silenced, while another person's, Mammon's voice was resounding in a quiet echo throughout the room as Kyoko's form became mist. "Goodbye..." The mist slowly left through the window, making Tsuna simply stare, speechless.

 **. . .**

After a while of staring at his window, he could only utter, "What just happened...?"

* * *

 **. . .**

* * *

Finding himself on the front yard of Tsuna's house, Mammon had one more thing to take care of: he had no place to live. He could stay at a hotel, but that would be an absolute waste of money as he was sure to stay more than a few days in Namimori, and the mission required him to live near or under the same roof as Tsuna.

Whatever the case, he had an idea: he was going to live with Tsuna, as his home tutor. In most situations, simply requesting that out of someone was not going to work, but it seemed like Tsuna's mother was someone he could take advantage of. With that in mind, he was going to have Tsuna's mother hire him as a home tutor in exchange for lodging: while he certainly wanted to charge her, he had to make the deal as convenient to her as possible, so he ( _begrudgingly_ ) decided to hold back on that matter.

Having everything planned, the only thing left for him to do was to write a convincing letter that would advertise his services, and wait for being called. However, if that ended up not happening, Mammon had a few backup plans: one of them consisted of endearing himself to Tsuna's mother so as to make her take him in out of pity, and another one involved pretending to be some relative of hers, but that one was more of a last resort (researching such a thing was fairly troublesome, after all).

For that night only, he was going to (yet again, _begrudgingly_ ) spend his money on a night at a hotel, but on the next day, no more similar waste was going to be ensued. Varia Quality was not to be underestimated, even if he was slightly rusty from a lack of missions: this one, tutoring Tsunayoshi Sawada, he was definitely going to complete.

Mammon smirked, looking up at the window he had come out from. _Just you wait, Tsunayoshi Sawada: I'll become your home tutor... and lead you to your death._

And just like that, Mammon disappeared without a trace from the Sawada residence.

* * *

 **Author's Notes:**

* * *

Woo, intense line at the ending (I struggled with it too)! Like, I am trying so hard to get Mammon in-character, you cannot simply imagine it: if there's anything you consider OOC about this, tell me right away, please! I beg of you! This chapter ended up longer than the Prologue but honestly, that's a good thing: the prologue was mere set-up; the chapters are where the real deal starts.

I'm liking the writing style I'm using for this story: I'm writing in third person and in past tense, but I'm also allowing myself to use contractions, which makes things flow better because my narrator isn't a professional person; he's quite biased to Mammon's perspective. Even so, you've seen that Tsuna's is also depicted, since I like writing his thoughts: besides, in this story, both Mammon and Tsuna are the protagonists, so it would be unfair for Tsuna not to have any focus in terms of thoughts or perspective.

Also, Mammon may be pretty hard to write for me, but I really enjoy writing him, so I'm having lots of fun with this story. However, I have to admit that canon will surely screw me over eventually, since Mammon lost to Mukuro in the Mist Battle and... I wouldn't want Mammon to get defeated by Mukuro when he's Tsuna's home tutor... ^^' Not only that, but many of the characters that showed up were called by Reborn or came over because of him: this means that a few important characters like Lambo won't be around, which will make me have to pick someone else as the Lightning Guardian.

Whatever the case, this story is a challenge, but it's a challenge I'm willing to take: changing cannon like this is pretty amusing to me. So, um, look forward to the next target? More things will surely happen there between Tsuna and Mammon!


	3. Target 2

**First Words:**

* * *

 **Guest - While I acknowledge that my Author's Notes (and this section) are really long (I'm sorry! ;_;), I will disagree with you on them being longer than the actual chapters; that is not the case. Even so, I will try my best (better than I already was?) to shorten them! Admittedly, it's hard for me _not_ to write a lot... Either way, thank you for reviewing!**

 **LollyLolita - Thank you! ^^ I also love Mammon, so I'm enjoying this idea; I'm glad you also are! And omg I'm so flattered, you complimented my writing ;_; Hopefully you'll like this chapter (and the next ones) as well! Whatever the case, thank you for reviewing!**

This story got 15 favorites, 22 followers and 7 reviews since the last target; thank you very much! This isn't even supposed to be my main story, but it already has more followers... ^^' Seriously, these are really big numbers for just Target 2, it truly amazes me! Anyway, before, I was complaining about feeling pressured, but I'll retract that: I was just in an unstable mood so now that I'm normal again, I feel more confident so there's no need to worry... though I still find the amount of people following this kind of scary (and amazing, thank you again!).

Mammon's speech patterns = From "Mu" to "Hm" and from "Yare yare" to "Good Grief" respectively, just so it doesn't sound too unatural in English

So, enjoy!

* * *

 **Target 2: The Illusionist Tutor Makes his Entrance**

* * *

At the Varia's Headquarters, quieter than they used to be, Belphegor was bored, and it wasn't due to the lack of missions: he had gotten used to that in eight years, as boring as it was. With that much time, he had found other ways to entertain himself, like, for example, using low-ranking members of the Varia as target practice.

... However, his main source of entertainment, Mammon, had mysteriously disappeared; needless to say the prince was not in a good mood. With that in mind, he decided to head over to wherever Squalo happened to be to ask him about it, walking through the Varia's dark hallways: he assumed Squalo would be in Xanxus' office (that the latter had barely used), stabbing old paperwork with his sword out of boredom.

Truly, the Varia's Headquarters had become a dull place. Belphegor, reaching the room, opened its door, only to find Squalo doing exactly what he had guessed. "Vooi, you got some business here, Bel?!" Squalo, immediately noticing him, shook off the papers stuck in his sword and scowled at him.

Belphegor grinned. "I've got some business with you: you're the leader now, so you should know about Mammon's whereabouts," he said, getting straight to the point. "Where is he?"

He noticed Squalo's expression turning more serious instead of angry; he definitely knew about Mammon, Belphegor noted. "Him? He's on a mission right now," Squalo answered, "so he won't be coming back any time soon. I was gonna tell this to you all tomorrow, but you just had to be impatient, didn't ya?!"

"On a mission? That's rare," Belphegor remarked, his grin widening at the thought of being on one. "But if you need to tell everyone about that, then it's no normal mission, is it? Shishishi, what is it? Did you finally find a way to break the Boss free?" That was a mere hypothesis that Belphegor knew wouldn't be true, but wished it were so things would get interesting again: whatever the case, he was sure that Mammon was on some sort of special mission.

Did it have something to do with his duties as an Arcobaleno... or was it something else? That was the most important question. "Hah, you wish," Squalo immediately responded, dismissing that completely, "For the time being, that trashy boss will still be a block of ice; Mammon's doing something completely different."

"Which is...?" Squalo could tell his words piqued Belphegor's interest, especially because it had something to do with Mammon. The two would get along surprisingly well, so it made sense for Belphegor to be curious about him; the fact that he was fairly bored further reinforced this.

Even so, Squalo also found it understandable for him to be bored: as it was, without Xanxus around, the Varia had lost some of its 'life'. "If you really wanna know..." Squalo grinned, knowing that Belphegor, no matter how much of a genius he was, wouldn't be able to guess what he was going to say. "Mammon's in Japan tutoring some shitty brat to become the next Vongola Boss."

 **. . .**

... While Belphegor kept his grin, a sweat drop trailed down his face. "Huh?"

* * *

 **. . .**

* * *

It had been done: the letter had been sent, and he saw Tsuna's mother find it, taking it with quizzical eyes. She had definitely read it too, and seemed surprised... pleasantly surprised.

Some minutes later, Mammon had gotten a call. He couldn't help but smirk at how successful his plan had been, even if it involved him technically offering his services for free (but he decided not to think about it, as that would displease him greatly). Mammon told her, in the phone call, that he would appear right on the same day of the call, earning him praise from her for his dedication.

... 'Dedication'. He was already near the house, but, to make it seem more realistic, Mammon idled for a while so as to make it seem like he travelled over. His plan had succeeded, making the backup plans he thought up unnecessary: Varia Quality prevailed as always.

While waiting for the right time to appear, Mammon felt a presence. "Hm?" Someone was spying on him, and he was sure of it. He turned to where he thought that person was, only to see someone flinch.

"Ha-hahii?!" Mammon noticed it was a girl in a school uniform different from Namimori Middle School's; in other words, no one he should care about. However, she was, for some reason, spying on him, so Mammon needed to know why. She peeked at him from the corner she was hiding, only to get back again as Mammon was still staring at her.

He hadn't turned into an illusion of someone else, so there was no way the girl knew him or thought he was an entirely different person: was it out of worry from seeing an infant alone on the streets? That could not be the case, as the girl's actions did not imply that. "Who's there?" Mammon asked.

"Hahii, so I've really been found out...!" the girl exclaimed while seemingly sobbing, but it didn't seem like she was crying as she got out of her hiding place with an energetic smile. _Another annoying person,_ Mammon concluded, but didn't move so as to see what the girl would do. "He-he-hello there! Good morning!" She seemed flustered for some reason as she ran over to Mammon, annoying him further. "My name is Haru! It's nice to meet you! Uh..."

... Mammon contemplated on whether he should simply disappear or scare her off, since it looked like she didn't know him at all: that meant the reason she had for introducing herself to him was nothing serious, and that she was only a normal girl. She was shyly looking at the ground before slowly raising her head, asking, "Can... Can I hold you tight, like this?" She squeezed both arms against her chest so as to exemplify her point.

"Of course not," Mammon bluntly answered, no discernible emotion in his voice. He already had enough of such actions from Belphegor, who liked to pinch his cheeks from time to time: "They're puffy," he'd say, as if Mammon cared about his reasons for doing so rather than the fact that he was doing it in the first place. Needless to say that he didn't like it at all, so he would trick Belphegor into thinking he was pinching his cheeks when it was actually an illusion... which, afterwards, would cause him to chase Mammon down with his knives, a sadistic grin on his face.

... In the end, Mammon decided to just charge him for that, tolerating his antics: Belphegor, being the rich prince he was, didn't particularly mind that, though he sometimes expressed how much he missed using Mammon as target practice before. At the unpleasant memories, Mammon felt even more like just disappearing on the girl but since he was waiting for the right time to appear before Tsuna and his mother, he had nothing better to do anyway. "Hahii, I got flat out rejected...!"

"That's nothing you should be surprised about," Mammon retorted, "Anyone with common sense would respond the same way." His words made Haru seem even sadder, as if she were about to cry; Mammon didn't care.

Haru stared at him for a while, only for her eyes to suddenly widen in surprise. "Ah, I see! It's because we barely know each other, right? No wonder you said no, I'm so sorry!" She bowed at him. "Then, let's start over!" Her expression shifted from apologetic to cheerful fast, which Mammon didn't like. Overall, Haru seemed really childish, and, as he had reasoned before taking the mission of tutoring Tsuna, he was no nanny: he was an assassin, so he had no business with kids beyond what was strictly necessary.

"Hello! My name is Haru, and I'd like to become friends with you! What about you, what is..." As Haru spoke, she realized something very important: Mammon was no longer in front of her. "Hahii...?! Where did that cute baby go?!"

Mammon had actually just moved over to the front yard of Tsuna's house while Haru was distracted, making himself look like a bird so as to not be found out, seeing as she was looking around for him. _Hm, what a troublesome girl,_ Mammon thought while checking the time: Tsuna would have to go to school in at least 20 minutes; that seemed convenient enough.

 **. . .**

 **. . .**

After confirming that Haru had gone away (she was very persistent, he noted), Mammon dispelled his illusion and replaced it with another. When coming up with his plan, he knew that it would be hard for him to be taken seriously by Tsuna's mother in his accursed form, so he made himself seem like an older, completely different individual, carrying no traces of his actual form like his Varia uniform, cloak and triangular markings under his eyes. Overall, with his illusion, Mammon expected to look more... not like an assassin, and certainly not too shady either.

With that in mind, he knocked on the door.

* * *

 **. . .**

* * *

When his mother, Nana Sawada, had told him she had gotten a home tutor for him, Tsuna didn't believe her or rather, he didn't want to believe her. Although he was, admittedly, no-good, that didn't mean a home tutor would suddenly make him better, and the idea of having a stranger teach him anything in his own house just didn't sit well with him.

So, he obviously protested, but his mother had already given him a call: there was no going back. Not only that but, according to her, he offered to tutor him for free, as long as he could live in their house; there was no fishier offer than that! Tsuna pointed it out, but Nana apparently found no problem with that; Tsuna could only sigh dejectedly. _A home tutor, huh..._

He wondered how such a person would be like as he changed into his school uniform, not wanting to be late to school again. _I mean, I shouldn't be complaining, but I really don't want one..._ He frowned, the situation still not sitting well with him. Taking his school bag, he reminded himself of the events of yesterday: he still couldn't wrap his head around them. _Who was that anyway? And how did he know Kyoko-chan? No one can disguise themselves as someone that well, too! But that clearly wasn't Kyoko-chan either..._

Seeing as the new topic he brought up was not helping his sour mood, he just resigned to not thinking about anything in particular as he went downstairs. When he did so, he heard his mother's voice from the kitchen, but that wasn't all.

... Someone else's voice could be heard as well, and he was positive it was his first guess. _My home tutor's already here?!_ he thought incredulously, and peeked at the dining room. As he had guessed, there was a stranger there, eating breakfast with a somewhat stoic expression. Tsuna's breakfast was also on the table, at a seat next to his supposed home tutor. _This isn't good...!_ "How about you come in and eat instead of sneaking around in your own house?"

At the words of the stranger, Tsuna jumped back, startled. _How did he find me out, his back is turned to this area!_ "Oh my, Tsu-kun, you were there?" Nana said, surprised at the fact that her son was right there; she hadn't noticed him at all. "Come on in! You do need to eat, don't you? And you also have to meet your home tutor; he'll be living with us from now on." She was smiling, but Tsuna did not feel like doing the same.

He reluctantly entered the dining room, staring at his home tutor nervously: in terms of appearance, he seemed to be a young (or at least very young-looking) man with short, black hair and blue eyes who was wearing a striped shirt and black pants; nothing too showy. He had a mysterious aura to him that Tsuna couldn't quite place, which intimidated him further. "My... home tutor?" Tsuna asked, despite having no doubts about that; even so, he found it hard to process.

"What else would I be? Now sit down and eat your food before you arrive late to classes again; punctuality is important," the stranger answered, his words sharp and blunt. _He's harsh...!_ Tsuna commented, feeling even more scared of him. Unfortunately, his breakfast was right next to him, so he had no choice but to hesitantly sit down, giving him various nervous glances as he did so. _But wait, how did he know I was late yesterday?_

He did say 'again', implying he knew Tsuna had been late before. At that thought, Tsuna couldn't help eyeing his home tutor in a suspecting manner, unsure of whether voice that out loud or not: he was fairly intimidating, after all. "Anyway, now that you two are here, we can finally do some introductions," Nana said and pointed at Tsuna, turned to the stranger, "I'm sure you already know, but this is my son, Tsunayoshi Sawada; he's always had a lot of trouble with school and such, but he's a nice boy."

She then pointed at the stranger, making Tsuna stare expectantly: it seemed like he'd finally know his name. "And this young man is Mammon: he's a home tutor from abroad, isn't that amazing? He's just moved to Japan and doesn't really know much about our customs; that's why he wanted to live with a native family!" _Despite that, he seems to speak fluent Japanese...!_ Tsuna remarked in his mind with a blank gaze, seeing his mother describe him in a somewhat excited manner.

After all, Mammon was clearly suspicious, but Tsuna was apparently the only one who thought that. "Yes, something along those lines," Mammon acknowledged, still looking fairly disinterested. One simple glance at Tsuna immediately made him flinch and take a bite out of his breakfast as if he had been focused on eating it, afraid of what Mammon would do or say. "You better start getting used to me right away, since I'll be living with you for quite a long while. I'll also be working you hard, so keep that in mind."

"Oh, how dependable!" Nana commented with a cheerful smile. _Dependable? More like scary, why did mom think getting this home tutor was a good idea...?!_ The fact that Mammon was staring at him as if expecting some sort of response made him even more scared, so he made it look like he was too busy eating his breakfast to say anything.

Nana giggled, noticing that, while Mammon didn't do anything in particular, leaving for quite the awkward mood. "Uh..." Tsuna uttered. "It's n-nice to meet you..." He found those words hard to say, as he was trembling and didn't mean them in the slightest. He finished his breakfast after saying that, glancing around as if to see whether he could leave or not.

"Hmph, just get going; you've only got 10 minutes," Mammon calmly warned, still having his own food to eat. Although he didn't really show it, Mammon thought it was delicious: in fact, he was surprised with how good it tasted; at least Nana was good for something, Mammon reasoned.

Tsuna, not having been aware of the time and having forgotten about classes jumped from his seat, panicked at the prospect of being late again. "Seriously?!" Tsuna turned around and started dashing away from the room, saying, "See you later!" After a while, the sound of the door opening and closing could be heard, meaning that he had left the house.

"Take care!" Nana said, though it was too late now that he wasn't around to hear her. With a smile, she sighed.

Mammon turned his gaze to her. "Does this happen often?" he asked, noticing that, from the window, Tsuna was visible, running to the school.

"Hmmm..." Nana hummed, seemingly deep in thought. "I'd say this happens quite often; he also has a habit of going home in the middle of classes though," she answered, "No matter how many times I scold him about it, he just doesn't listen!"

At Nana's answer, Mammon only stared off to the window, no longer being able to see Tsuna. "I see..."

 _Well, that'll change soon,_ Mammon thought as he finished his food and left the area. However, Nana did not notice this as the illusion still remained, striking up a conversation with her. Whatever it would be about, Mammon would have no idea, but that didn't matter: he could simply ask later and give some excuse as to why he had 'forgotten' if she had already told him in the morning.

For the time being, Mammon was going to follow Tsuna, his main priority.

* * *

 **. . .**

* * *

It didn't take Mammon that long to catch up to Tsuna, as expected of someone like him. "Hey," Mammon called, trying to get his attention. While Mammon was simply walking on the fences of houses, Tsuna was apparently too busy running to school to notice the infant right beside him. "Hey...!"

A brick wall suddenly surged right in front of Tsuna, one that he could not dodge since he had been so focused, making his reaction time slow. "Ow!" He bumped into it and fell to the ground, groaning in pain. "Just what..." he mumbled, admittedly finding it more than strange that he hit a brick wall that he had never seen before.

... However, when he stood up, he noticed there was no brick wall in front of him. "Huh?! Then what did I bump into...?!" he muttered, his eyes wide in surprise.

"Nothing," Mammon simply answered, "You just thought you did and hurt yourself."

Tsuna flinched and immediately snapped his head towards the voice he heard next to him. "Hu-huh?! Who are you?!" Finding that it was just an infant, Tsuna wasn't as scared, but was still staring at him quizzically. _What did that mean anyway?_

"I'm your home tutor; Mammon, remember?" Despite his words, Mammon knew Tsuna wouldn't recognize him: even if he weren't covering his face (which he was), it would seem like him and the illusion were two different people due to his drastic changes in appearance. Not only that, but just the fact that he wasn't even remotely close to an adult was sure to make Tsuna confused.

... And confused he surely was, staring at Mammon intently.

 **. . .**

After a while, Tsuna couldn't even contain his laughter. "Ma... Mammon...?!" Tsuna exclaimed, struggling to speak due to laughing so hard. "You're just a baby...! Are you... a sibling of his or something...?! You can't be my—" Before he could finish what he was saying, blue tentacles stretched out from where Mammon's arm should have been, wrapping themselves around Tsuna's body... needless to say he was more than shocked at that. **"HIIIIEEEH?! T-T-T-TENTACLES?!** How did you— Get them off, this is gross!"

He proceeded to scream even more in panic ("Help! Someone! Please!") while struggling to escape from the tentacles which kept him in place, annoying Mammon further. "Shut up and listen," he said while making the tentacles hold him tighter in place so as to have him stop moving altogether.

... It worked, but Tsuna looked somewhat pale afterwards. "Ah, I... I can't... I can't breathe..." He couldn't even struggle, and he was starting to look lifeless; Mammon didn't care.

"I'm only loosening those tentacles' grip on you if you keep quiet; unless you want to die, that is..." Just the smirk on the infant's face made him completely freeze, terrified of what else he could have up his sleeve. _He's serious, he'll seriously kill me...! How did can he do that anyway...? And why me?!_ "Hmph."

Seeing as Tsuna had complied, Mammon removed his tentacles from Tsuna, retracting them to his arm as if they had never been there in the first place (which they weren't since they were mere illusions). Tsuna exhaled, and inhaled, recovering the oxygen he was lacking before. He then looked up in utter shock at Mammon, whose emotions were hard to discern due to him covering his face with a hood; at least he could tell he wasn't smirking anymore.

He continued staring... Mammon took this as him doing what he had told him to do (shut up and listen), probably fearing another situation like the one he had just gone through.

 **. . .**

Tsuna pinched his cheek. It hurt, and had no effect like the last time he did so. **"Hiii, someone wake me up from this nightmaaaare!"**

Suddenly, Tsuna started running away in tears in the fastest speed Mammon had seen from him in the two days he had been in Namimori. _How pathetic._ After all, there was no way Tsuna could escape from Mammon: Mammon was from the Varia, and Tsuna was... No-Good.

With yet another illusion of tentacles, Mammon restrained Tsuna completely, making him trip and fall to the ground with a loud scream. "Idiot," Mammon muttered, his tentacles tightening around Tsuna: this time, no matter what he would do, Mammon wouldn't release him.

 **. . .**

 **. . .**

Eventually, after many more screams, pleading for help when most people at that hour would be out of the house, Tsuna passed out. Dispelling his illusion, Mammon simply hopped off the fence he was on and walked over to Tsuna. He definitely couldn't go to school in that state but really, Mammon didn't care: the only reason he was insisting on him going was so he could be punctual; as he was, that was no longer a priority.

Having no strength or the height to carry Tsuna around (even if he did, he would never carry him anyway), Mammon grabbed his right arm and started dragging him home. The slight alteration in his plans actually proved somewhat convenient, despite the fact that it also involved having to drag Tsuna around: instead of after school, Mammon could explain that he was (according to the Ninth only) the next Vongola Boss and every other thing that came from it earlier.

Mammon didn't need to rush things, but it was better if Tsuna was more aware of everything instead of having to panic at every single illusion he'd throw at him; it would really annoy him otherwise. Mammon wondered if the Ninth had received a bribe from Iemitsu Sawada or something of the sort: that would have been the only reason Mammon, if he were in the Ninth's position, would have had for choosing Tsuna as the candidate for the Tenth Boss of the Vongola.

Besides, he was the son of the External Advisor: even if there were claims of them not being directly part of the Vongola, Iemitsu Sawada's influence was just as big as the Ninth's, and he would undoubtedly hold a bias for his own son. Even so, the Ninth seemed to be aware of just how much of a complete loser Tsuna was, or he wouldn't have ranked his mission accordingly: he knew he was handing the Vongola over to No-Good Tsuna.

Mammon could not ever understand the logic behind that. Reaching Tsuna's house somehow with Tsuna behind him, Mammon knocked on the door, casting an illusion to make himself look like how he had decided to look like as Tsuna's home tutor. Honestly, he still didn't like it, but it was the best way to go about completing his mission, so he accepted it for the time being.

When the door opened, Nana only gasped in surprise, finding that her son was being carried bridal style by his home tutor, seemingly unconscious... or, at least, that was what Mammon made her see, since Tsuna was still on the floor and the only thing Mammon was grabbing was his arm. "Mammon-kun! What happened...?!"

"I went out for sightseeing and found him collapsed in the middle of the street," he lied since, naturally, it wouldn't be a good idea to tell he was the one that knocked Tsuna out, "so, I carried him over here." Nana seemed even more surprised at his words, wearing a concerned expression on her face.

It was understandable: his son had mysteriously passed out, after all. "Oh my...! Could it be that he's ill? He won't be going to school today, at least," she said, gesturing for Mammon go in. He complied, still dragging Tsuna over.

"Well, for the time being, he should at least rest in his room until he gets better." That suggestion was merely so he could rush the conversation, getting right to the point. "Since he's too heavy for you, I'll carry him there." Wanting Nana to have no time to say anything, Mammon had already started walking towards the stairs, actually planning on dragging Tsuna to the first floor.

Nana stared at Mammon curiously as she closed the front door, only to then smile. Hearing the far too loud sounds of Mammon's footsteps combined with Tsuna's body repeatedly hitting the stairs, she muttered, "It looks like things will be looking good for you now, Tsu-kun."

... The irony of Nana's words was so great that Mammon, who had been able to hear her, stopped the painfully slow process of dragging dead weight (Tsuna) up the stairs and smirked. _If only you knew..._

* * *

 **. . .**

* * *

To his surprise, Tsuna woke up in his own bed rather than in the grasp of multiple tentacles. He had a clear memory of what happened to him in the morning: he met his home tutor, rushed out of the house so he wouldn't be late and, on his way, hit a non-existent brick wall that was in front of him only to find out it was a hooded infant's doing, claiming to be the very same home tutor he had met before. Afterwards, he could only remember the infant somehow spawning tentacles to restrain him, and him being unable to breathe...

 **. . .**

Tsuna sighed in relief. _So that was all a dream, thank goodness...! There's no home tutor, no strange babies and, most of all, no freaky tentacles!_ "O-ow, ow, ow, ow!" He had tried moving, but found that his entire body hurt for some reason; he also had a terrible headache. "Why...?"

"Hmph, finally." At the familiar voice, Tsuna flinched, only to wince in pain. _No way...!_ "I almost thought you'd sleep through the whole day."

He looked to his side and found an infant he did not want to find: the baby of his dreams, no, nightmares. "Y-You're...!" 'It wasn't a dream after all!' he thought in both shock and depression. "That weird baby...!"

"It's Mammon," Mammon corrected, sitting by his bedroom's table as if he owned it while drinking tea. Nana had made that for him, smiling cheerfully at the fact that he was waiting patiently for her son to awaken: she probably thought Mammon was worried; she couldn't have been more wrong.

The only worry Mammon would have had with that situation was that he could have killed Tsuna by having him hit his head too hard, too many times, but he was a professional: such mistakes would never happen with him. "No, it's not! No matter how you look at it, you can't be Mammon; you're a baby!" Tsuna protested, groaning in pain afterwards.

"That form is just an illusion; this is how I really look," Mammon said with a frown on his face. Despite the fact that he was called a child displeased him, he didn't press on that topic: it wouldn't be worth explaining his circumstances to someone like him.

Meanwhile, Tsuna stared blankly at Mammon, finding the statement ridiculous. "An illusion?" he questioned. "You can't seriously be telling me that you can cast illusions or something like that!" Even so, Tsuna had his doubts: the brick wall, for example, wasn't real; it could've definitely been an illusion. Not only that, but the fact that the tentacles were an illusion seemed more plausible than Mammon just happening to be able to conjure them out of his arm.

However, that would mean his suffering hadn't been real: could his mind be tricked to the point of believing to be suffering pain without having been truly damaged? "It's the truth: you're free to not believe it, but I'll still cast illusions," Mammon said, uncaring of Tsuna's doubts. Sure, it would have been troublesome if he just pretended nothing had happened, but even then Mammon would just do whatever he wanted to him anyway: Tsuna's fate, to him, wasn't to become a mafia boss anyway.

"Don't cast them!" Reminding himself of the tentacles, Tsuna immediately exclaimed that, flailing his arms around and ignoring the pain that caused. "I mean, it's not like I still find it possible, but...!" He seemed to be in denial, Mammon noted. "Well, you get the idea!" Mammon did not understand or care about whatever point Tsuna apparently wanted to make: as far as he was concerned, he just wanted to get the explanations out of his way so Tsuna could bask over the fact that he was supposedly special and continue on with the mission. "So, uh... You're actually Mammon, somehow?"

Tsuna gave Mammon a skeptical look, noticing that he had been able to just enter his room, proudly be at his table and drink tea as if he were some sort of long-term guest, like what his home tutor was supposed to be. Even so, it was still doubtful that someone could just make others think they have another form... or was it? "Don't make me repeat myself," Mammon said, but not in as much of a threatening tone as expected; if anything, he was only slightly annoyed or troubled.

"Wait...!" Tsuna's eyes widened in realization, his mind going over the events of yesterday: someone had been able to take the form of Kyoko and trick him, in the exact same way Mammon claimed to have fooled him and his mother to think he didn't look like an infant. In fact, as he thought about it, the person behind that strange situation had momentarily exposed his voice to Tsuna when he was leaving, and it had an uncanny resemblance to Mammon's.

 _He was the one who disguised himself as Kyoko-chan yesterday!_ Tsuna concluded. _So that was an illusion...?!_ "Hm? What is it?" Mammon asked, more out of curiosity than anything. _This baby can really cast them just like that?! I got the biggest scare of my life because of him, what the hell?!_

"You, you were here yesterday, weren't you? As Kyoko-chan," Tsuna nervously said, still in the middle of accepting the fact that it was possible for Mammon to cast illusions. _Why did he do that anyway? He said he got what he wanted, but he only managed to scare the crap out of me and make me think I had a chance with Kyoko-chan..._

He inwardly groaned, his eyes cast downwards out of the sheer embarrassment he had felt at the time; even he thought that was a new low in his pitiful life. Meanwhile, Mammon smirked and said, "Looks like you were at least able to find that out; my hint was helpful, wasn't it?" _Hint?_ Tsuna thought, staring at Mammon confusedly.

"What do you mean?" Tsuna asked, finding that Mammon's seemingly amused expression did not give him much comfort. _He's covering his face with that hood too..._ He briefly wondered how exactly Mammon's face looked, but, having other issues to be concerned with, he decided to momentarily forget that topic.

"You're really slow," Mammon remarked, "Or what, did you actually think I revealed my own voice by accident? Those kinds of slip ups don't happen to me." _He's really confident..._ Even so, he had gotten his answer. _But wait, that was on purpose? How did he want me to guess from just that?!_

Whatever the case, he still had other pending doubts. "Then, why did you do it?" That was the main question, the one he wanted to know badly: after all, he could find no perfectly justifiable reason for such action.

"To test you: you just came off as too pathetic to be true, you see," Mammon sharply answered, no signs of hesitation in his voice. _You didn't have to go that far...!_ Tsuna countered in his mind, staring blankly at him. _What could he even test by pretending to be Kyoko-chan?_

He wasn't sure if he wanted to know the answer to that. As Tsuna sighed, a certain thought suddenly struck in his mind. _Wait... At first I thought it was because he's my home tutor, but..._ "Hey, why did you have to test me yesterday? You shouldn't have even known who I was by then, mom only called you today!" _He even knew I was late for school yesterday... Don't tell me he was stalking me or something like that!_

"Oh, that? That's obviously because I already knew I was going to tutor you: that was my mission from the start," Mammon explained, finding that the conversation was finally progressing towards what he wanted to say in the first place. Even so, he didn't find the previous conversation boring: the fact that Tsuna had been able to find out he was the one behind yesterday's illusion was somewhat amusing, as it seemed he wasn't that hopeless.

Although Mammon had tried to make it as obvious as possible (in his standards), he had honestly expected Tsuna to be so slow and unintelligent that he wouldn't have even noticed or given thought to such things. Besides, it looked like his perception wasn't so bad either: Tsunayoshi Sawada was not completely flawed. However, that did not at all mean he was fit for the position of Tenth Vongola Boss, especially in comparison to someone like Xanxus; in fact, he wouldn't be fit for any position as he was. "M-mission?"

"Exactly," Mammon answered, "Having your mother give me a call was only so I could stay in this house: even without her approval, I'd be tutoring you anyway. After all, I was sent from Italy to tutor you by someone else." _Italy?_ Tsuna thought, finding that detail somewhat unnecessary in Mammon's explanation. "And that person just happens to be the boss of the most powerful mafia family in the world."

... That is, until he heard Mammon utter those words. If he were drinking any water, he would have surely spit it out from how shocked he was. "Ma-ma-ma-mafia family?! D-did you really just say that?! You're serious?!" Tsuna practically jumped on the bed he had been lying on, having completely forgotten the pain that he had before.

"I'm completely serious: out of every possible, much worthier candidate for the position," Tsuna had a feeling he was being insulted, but decided to ignore that, "you, Tsunayoshi Sawada, got picked to become the next boss of the Vongola family; its Tenth, to be exact." Mammon's explanation went from one ear and escaped from another, finding that information incredibly hard to believe, much less to process.

 _... Me? The boss of a mafia?_ Meanwhile, Mammon took out a piece of paper, unfolded it and put it on the table, showing off its contents: to Tsuna's surprise, the paper was depicting a family tree. "As you can see, the first boss apparently retired early and left for Japan, while the second boss' generation stayed in power for all these years. Instead of keeping it that way," Mammon pointed at a name as he said that, one that he could recognize as, 'Tsunayoshi Sawada', "the Ninth somehow thought it was a good idea to choose you now, who's related to the First."

 _What...?_ While he could undoubtedly see how much Mammon seemed to be against it, he could not take in most of the information given to him yet: according to the family tree displayed on the table, that he was observing from sitting on his bed, he was the descendant of a mafia boss, the head of a crime organization! He could not so readily accept something like that, especially when he was apparently supposed to be one as well. "But, since you're completely unfit for the position as you are, I got paid to tutor and train you in basically every area until you become mafia boss quality. Is that clear?"

An answer was expected out of Tsuna; after a while, he noticed that.

 **. . .**

 **. . .**

"No," he started, "no, no, no, no, no, no way, there's— There's just no way I'll ever become a mafia boss, I-I don't even want to be one! I mean, I don't even know if you're serious about that since it's so unbelievable but no!" Mammon found his denial somewhat amusing: he thought Tsuna had some awareness of the mafia, since his father was the External Advisor; that did not seem to be the case. Had he kept it hidden from his family to protect them, or something of that sort? _What a fool,_ he thought. "Why did your boss just have to pick me and set this all up without anyone's approval anyway? Don't I get a choice in the matter?! And why me instead of someone else related to the Vongola?!"

 _That's what I'd like to know,_ Mammon thought: surely the only people that would ever approve of Tsunayoshi Sawada as the next boss of the Vongola were the Ninth and Iemitsu Sawada, and maybe even the Ninth's guardians who shared the same soft ideals Mammon couldn't stand; they weren't fit to choose the new boss. In fact, they weren't even fit to be leading the Vongola, but no one else seemed to agree beyond the Varia. "Who knows? I don't understand that old man's thought process either: as far as I'm concerned, you shouldn't be the next boss, but a paid job is a paid job; I can't go against that."

In a way, Tsuna and Mammon were on the same side: Tsuna didn't want to be a mafia boss, and Mammon didn't want him to become a mafia boss either. Even so, that didn't change the fact that Mammon would have to tutor and eventually get rid of him, so there were no benefits to it. "So you don't have any choice either? Y-you really can't just leave and tell your boss I don't wanna be the Tenth mafia boss?"

"Unfortunately, things don't work that way," Mammon simply answered, imagining how badly Tsuna's suggestion would have gone if he were stupid enough to go through with it: it would not only bring shame to the Varia that he had failed the mission (as convincing Tsuna to want to become a mafia boss was probably one of the reasons the mission was SSS-ranked), but it could also make him seem suspicious. After all, the Varia wouldn't want any other person as the boss beyond Xanxus: if Mammon were to announce he had failed the mission just because he couldn't make Tsuna accept the fact that he had to become the boss, that could be seen as some sort of Varia conspiracy.

Mammon knew why Xanxus was out of the question for the Ninth: he had attempted to take over the Vongola once, so it was only natural for that to be the case. However, all of the Ninth's sons beyond him were gone, and the only person that could be the Tenth was the scrawny teen that seemed to fail at almost everything: did he really want to doom the Vongola that badly? Despite being told by him that failing the mission would mean 'the end of the Vongola', Mammon was sure the opposite would happen in that situation. "Seriously...? But—!"

"Stop complaining: we're both on the same boat here. I have to tutor you, and you have to suck it up and become a mafia boss: even if you whine about that, nothing will change." Tsuna's train of thought stopped completely with Mammon's blunt words, which made him lack anything to say.

That formed an awkward silence as Tsuna looked down at the floor, still taking in all that he had been told. He knew Mammon was right: he knew they both had no choice, and that Mammon couldn't just go away when he had been assigned that mission by his own boss; he had processed that well. _But..._

 _But that doesn't mean I can just accept the fact that I'm supposed to become a mafia boss, I don't want to have that kind of life...!_ Tsuna shook his head furiously as he thought about it, not even wanting to get a mental image of himself with such an occupation. _There's no way I'll become a mafia boss, never!_

To Mammon, who was observing him, his answer had been clear. "Hmph, you can think whatever you want, but I'll still be your home tutor," Mammon said, taking the emptied cup that used to have tea and getting away from the table, "so don't expect to be off the hook just because you're in denial." With those words, Mammon made himself look like the stranger Tsuna had met in the morning and left the room with a somewhat disinterested expression.

 **. . .**

 **. . .**

 **. . .**

"What the hell is going on?!" Tsuna fell back on the bed and groaned, his mind having become a storm of various panicked thoughts. Mammon didn't seem to be lying with his words as far as Tsuna could see, and he had just witnessed him cast that illusion so he wouldn't look like an infant and be taken seriously: all of that pointed to Tsuna actually having to be tutored by him, a baby, and becoming a mafia boss, just like he had been told.

... Even so, every single one of his thoughts denied that completely. _Damn it, I'm not gonna become a mafia boss, I swear!_

Tsuna sighed a long, frustrated and depressed sigh, already feeling very tired: he knew, he just knew that from that day on, his life was going to become much more hectic and complicated than he'd have ever wanted it to be...

* * *

 **Author's Notes:**

* * *

Striped shirt = Shout out to Bel

Mammon didn't actually give that much thought though ^^' I tried to make it really different from Mammon's adult form, since I'm guessing Mammon wouldn't want other people to know his face; I was a bit nervous when I wrote that.

Bloopers: "Mammon-kun!" God, how he wanted to kill her."

Now if only fanfictions had bloopers... XD I actually wrote that, but erased it for obvious reasons. I mean, I don't hate Nana at all, but I'd imagine Mammon being annoyed by someone like her: even so, he's a professional, so he doesn't let that get in the way of the mission. Really, when I saw the Arcobaleno Trials filler arc, it made me see the Varia in a better light: Mammon and Bel committed pretty well to what they were doing, as if they really were professionals; I wanted some of that to show in this fic too.

... Sure, that came from the anime, but it's practically canon as far as I'm concerned. Anyway, Bel finding out Mammon's mission XD I had almost forgotten to write that, but then I went back and took care of that issue. After doing that, I kind of realized how rusty I am in writing the Varia, and that's really because I've been spending a whole while writing every character but them: I've even written Byakuran and the Funeral Wreaths, but no Varia! It was fun writing Bel: I want to do more of that.

Also, as you can see, I'm kind of making the narrative switch between focusing on Tsuna's feelings and focusing on Mammon's: they're the protagonists, after all. They'll be interacting a lot too, since Mammon basically became the Reborn of this story: this just makes me notice how well Reborn works off of Tsuna, since he's like 'my way or the highway' with everything and actually cares about teaching lessons to Tsuna, even if it's not in the most conventional of ways.

... Meanwhile, Mammon is pretty level-headed and greedy and just wants the Ninth to surrender the Vongola to Xanxus already: it's a totally different combination. However, it might just work, since Tsuna can still point a whole lot of stuff out, like the tentacles... Oh, the tentacles. I'm kind of scared of having left an innuendo or two there by accident, to be honest: truly, the worst part of writing a chapter is making sure you're not writing a trillion innuendos, especially if they involve tentacles...

This chapter was pretty long too, and Mammon explained a whole lot of stuff at the end: you might not know it, but Mammon's a really talkative dude! Seriously, just look at the Varia arc: he was practically the one who talked the most in all the matches, commenting on things with Bel and occasionally Levi or Squalo. So yeah, Mammon was made to explain stuff. Also, I think Mammon's not very easy to anger or enrage, which is why I make Mammon seem annoyed, or even just mildly so: he's most likely the type that only gets emotional when certain buttons are pushed; in his case, it's life not actually repeating itself eternally (Mukuro: u mad bro?) and the Arcobaleno curse, for example.

Anyway, look forward to the next target?


	4. Target 3

**First Words:**

* * *

This story got 3 favorites and 12 followers after the previous chapter! Thank you! Seriously, I've been uploading these chapters at the worst times: I think I uploaded this a few hours before that awful bug (that would stop everyone from getting into their accounts), which I imagine was terribly inconvenient for my readers; I'm sorry! Anyway, while I've been doing somewhat of a weekly schedule, don't expect it to continue: I might just run out of chapters if I keep that up, especially when I've also been writing my main story (because this happens to not be my main priority ^^').

While the previous chapters have basically been to set up Mammon's arrival, everything starts getting set into motion in this chapter, in my opinion. Also, writing in third person is really great for this story, since seeing how every character is doing is awesome; I love writing the Varia and the like ^^

Whatever the case, enjoy!

* * *

 **Target 3: Tsuna Cheats?! Mammon's Plan**

* * *

On the next morning, Tsuna (miraculously) wasn't late for school, so he was merely walking calmly.

... Or that would have been the case, if he hadn't seen a certain infant walk next to him. "Mammon...! Why are you following me?" he asked, a surprised expression on his face. Mammon had been by his side for quite a while, but only now had he noticed him there; he would lower his guard too much, Mammon noted.

"To observe you, of course: just standing around your house won't make me accomplish anything, and I need to know how exactly to handle training someone as pathetic as you." Unlike Reborn or Fon or other Arcobaleno he wasn't so fond of, Mammon had no experience in tutoring or training anyone: he had no need to do so before, so it was perfectly justifiable. Beyond his past before the curse, he had only spent time in the Varia, so assassination had been his only duty up until the Ninth's offer.

However, if having to deal with a young Belphegor counted, Mammon might have just had experience in babysitting... maybe: Belphegor did happen to be a genius, while Tsuna was clearly the opposite of that. "You don't have to put it like that!" Tsuna retorted, feeling more insignificant than ever from being insulted by an infant, even if said infant happened to have powers beyond his comprehension. "Besides, didn't you test me already?"

"That was just to confirm how much of a hopeless case you are," Mammon answered, "And now that I know, I need to be on top of every situation you get into and make you smart enough to deal with it." Tsuna gave Mammon a blank look, having been insulted yet again as if his words had been ignored.

"So you're planning on going to school with me? You can't, you know?" Just imagining the reaction of all his classmates if he all of a sudden had brought a baby to school made him feel gloomy about the outcome of the day. Not only that, but if he were found out by the Disciplinary Committee...

Tsuna shivered. Everyone in Namimori Middle School knew that garnering the attention of the Disciplinary Committee was like suicide. "As long as I'm not seen, it shouldn't be a problem."

"And what if you're seen...?! It'll be the end of me!" _Ah, I don't even want to know what Kyoko-chan would think of me if she saw me with this baby in school!_ Tsuna shook his head to get rid of the pitiful mental image, afraid that Kyoko, who already didn't have much of an opinion formed on Tsuna beyond the fact that he didn't do very well in school, would get the impression he was weird or something of the sort.

Meanwhile, Mammon was completely unfazed with his arguments, finding them foolish when applied to someone like him. "I don't make those kinds of mistakes. Besides, your reputation is already rock bottom; you can't go any lower than that." _I guess he has a point..._ Mammon's words managed to calm Tsuna down somewhat as let out a sigh, finding himself unsure of his future.

"Hm?" Mammon suddenly uttered, making Tsuna turn to him confusedly.

"What?" Tsuna asked as he saw Mammon turn around.

He decided to do the same, only to see nothing in particular; Tsuna got even more confused. "You're following me again, aren't you? Come out of your hiding place," Mammon said, surprising Tsuna. _What does he mean?! Why would someone be following Mammon?!_

From those thoughts, Tsuna assumed the worst. _Maybe it's someone from the mafia..._ His legs started shaking in fear of a man with a suit revealing himself and shooting them with his gun, considering if running away would make him safe or not. "Hahii?! Not again!"

However, what did appear from a corner of the street was an energetic-looking girl with a school uniform he didn't recognize, looking somewhat sad. _This is who's been following Mammon?!_ He gave the girl a blank stare, no longer scared. "W-who's this?" he asked.

"An annoyance, it seems: I only met her yesterday," Mammon answered, but Tsuna couldn't help but find that response vague. _What would this girl want with Mammon then?_

Whatever it was, Mammon was not complying with her; he could at least guess that much. "An annoyance?! But why?! The only thing I want is to become friends with you and squeeze you tight, and yet you don't seem to like me for some reason; it breaks my heart!" _Isn't it because you're stalking him? And who'd want to be squeezed?_ Tsuna immediately thought, but kept quiet outwardly.

"That's precisely why you're a nuisance," Mammon countered, frowning slightly. _That's harsh...! I mean, it's the truth, but there were other ways to go about it..._ Tsuna thought, taking pity in the girl whose name seemed to be Haru as she referred to herself in third person.

From Mammon's words, Haru fell to her knees in utter despair, startling Tsuna. "Hahii, I can't believe this...!" She also seemed to be sobbing, making her slightly more difficult to understand. "To think a cute and angelic baby would have such a sharp tongue...!" Suddenly, she snapped her head towards Tsuna. **"You!"**

"Hiii!" Tsuna flinched, eyeing her serious expression nervously. "W-what?!"

Tsuna glanced at Mammon, but it seemed he was not going to get much help from him. "Since he was walking with you like that, you must be siblings, right?" Haru asked, standing up so as to be taken more seriously.

"Huh?! No, of course not!" Tsuna immediately denied, hoping that would make her relax somewhat and not wanting to imagine actually having a brother like Mammon.

... However, that didn't have the desired effect at all. Instead, Haru gasped, giving Tsuna an incredulous look. "Then are you a _dangerous_ stranger taking advantage of his innocence...?!"

"What?!" _What made her get that idea?! Besides, Mammon's anything but innocent!_ "Why does it come to that?!"

Haru glared at him, unconvinced. "Well, if that's not the case, what are you supposed to be?" She pointed at him accusingly, as if sure that he would have no way of answering her.

... And, well, he didn't, unless he wanted her to laugh at him: he wasn't just going to say an infant was his home tutor, as much as that was true. "Run," Mammon suddenly muttered to Tsuna, surprising him. Afterwards, he said to Haru in a louder volume, "We don't have time to deal with you; goodbye."

"Hahii, wait—!" Before Haru could even process it, Tsuna and Mammon were already leaving her line of sight, having run away from her. She tried chasing after them, but she could no longer see where they were headed, even though she ahd been able to see them a while ago.

Haru wondered why as she stopped running, but found no clear answer: in the same way Mammon had run away from her yesterday, he had mysteriously disappeared. Whatever the case, she had found someone who knew Mammon: as far as she could see, he was either a strange relative, or a terrible person taking advantage of him.

Either way, she would take action. Narrowing her eyes, Haru muttered, "This is not over yet..."

* * *

 **. . .**

* * *

"Oh my, a new boss candidate, you say?!" Lussuria questioned, surprised at the news. While rumors would spread fast in the Vongola Headquarters, they would never really reach the Varia: due to that, Squalo was only able to know about the Ninth's choice from Mammon; otherwise, he'd be as doubtful as Lussuria.

Levi A Than, or Levi, could only scowl at that, thinking of his Boss. "Nonsense: that old man is a fool. Everyone should know the only person worthy of that position is the Boss."

"Well, not that we weren't expecting that," Belphegor remarked, a carefree grin on his face. "Our Boss is currently frozen, after all; that wouldn't be much of a candidate."

Levi tensed. "Watch your tongue, Bel!"

"Shishishi, or what? You'll kill me? You can try if you want, but we all know a prince always wins." He was already taking a few knives out, excited at the prospect of a fight.

Levi, picking up on that, glared at him intently, preparing for a duel as well. "You—!"

"Voooi, stop picking a fight with each other like a bunch of fucking brats!" Squalo shouted, his voice so loud that it completely distracted Belphegor and Levi from their fight, making them both frown at him. Seeing that they weren't going to cause any further trouble, Squalo said, "Anyway, because of that, as Bel got to know ahead of you all," Squalo noticed him grinning again, most likely from his words, "the Ninth went and hired Mammon to tutor that trash; that's why he's not around."

Lussuria gasped. "You don't mean he betrayed us or something like that, right...?!"

"Hmph, of course not, he's not that suicidal!" Squalo answered, "Mammon accepted that mission to make sure we don't have to bother with that trash: if that old man were to pick someone else, it could mean trouble for us since we'd have to kill off some weak brat as if he were on our level; when we get the Boss out of the ice and set everything in motion, Mammon's gonna kill him for us."

"Basically, Mammon's getting rid of the boring fights for us," Belphegor concluded, having already been briefed on Mammon's circumstances: he was surprised too when he heard about it, but after getting the details like the other members were currently getting, he understood everything.

Mammon's plan was perfectly fine in anyone's perspective, as he had taken advantage of a situation presented to him so as to more swiftly take care of an issue they would have in the future: however, it was also unnecessary. Even if whoever the boss candidate was happened to get tutored by someone strong and, consequentially, gained some power, it still wouldn't be enough to thwart Xanxus' plans, and no one in the Varia would particularly mind killing someone weak off despite not being as much fun as fighting someone strong: with that in mind, having Mammon tutor him was pointless, since it made no difference to anyone in the Varia; the outcome wouldn't change.

His true motivation, Belphegor deducted, was money, like always: since he didn't want to refuse the money being offered to him by the Ninth, Mammon came up with a plausible enough plan to still be able to aid the Varia and earn the money he wanted at the same time. "Hmph, I see: as long as it's for the Boss' sake, I don't mind," Levi responded in a serious manner and simply walked out of the room, making Squalo glare at him.

Mammon might have been able to hide his main reason from everyone else, but Belphegor would never be tricked: he was a prince, after all; he was at a completely different level. "Oh dear, Levi must be missing our Boss even more now that Mammon got himself on a mission like that," Lussuria remarked, giving the door where Levi had left from a single glance before shifting his attention back to Squalo. "But really, how unbelievably kind of Mammon to take care of the little boss candidate for us; he probably wouldn't even be worth joining my collection. Well, we'll just have to see how things turn out from this; I'll be going now."

With that, Lussuria walked off with a smile, seemingly amused. "Shishishi, looks like no one had any problem with Mammon's mission," Belphegor said to the only person left in the room, Squalo. Despite being considered the temporary leader of the Varia, none of its elite members ever treated him accordingly: the only reason he was appointed was because they all knew voting for themselves would make nothing move forward (since they'd never vote on someone else) and, out of the elite, Squalo was the one who could set everything straight. Even so, in every members' mind, the true boss was Xanxus, and that would never change.

"There was nothing they could do about it anyway," Squalo responded, "Now that that's been discussed, this meeting is over!" Despite those words, half of the people gathered had already left: needless to say Squalo had a scary scowl on his face due to that.

That only amused Belphegor, making him snicker as he left, Squalo becoming the only one remaining in the room; he didn't really care about that though. Instead, Belphegor wondered what exactly Mammon was doing at the time, and if it was anything interesting...

* * *

 **. . .**

* * *

"I-it's 5!" Tsuna answered in the most nervous way possible, having no confidence that he would ever get the question right. If anything, he found it strange that teachers still bothered to ask: after all, he was No-Good Tsuna. Did they have some hope of Tsuna improving?

However, unlike most times, where the teacher would sigh and tell him he had the wrong answer while classmates laughed in his expense, the classroom was quiet. The teacher's eyes were widened in shock, and some classmates were whispering among themselves. Tsuna looked towards Kyoko, noticing that even she seemed surprised; he started fearing the situation.

"That..." the teacher muttered, "that's correct..."

 **. . .**

... Tsuna still feared the situation. "Huh...?" _Seriously?!_ The classmates' whispering became loud chatter after the unbelievable hypothesis had been confirmed for them, making Tsuna be able to perfectly hear them:

"N-No-Good Tsuna got it right? No way!"

"Maybe the teacher didn't hear him right?"

"No, he's gotta be cheating!"

Just hearing the word 'cheating' made him flinch despite it being the logical conclusion as to why he had ever correctly answered a Math problem of all things. Even so, that hit him hard due to the fact that it was true: Tsuna did cheat, which was something he had never bothered doing before and had never intended to do initially.

However, Tsuna had practically gotten no choice: with a bright '5' suddenly appearing on the board when asked to give the answer to that question, there was no way Tsuna wouldn't bet on that being the answer, even if the sheer occurrence that was a number magically appearing was completely ridiculous. As the answer faded away from the board, Tsuna couldn't help but stare at it blankly, having a hunch on who exactly had caused that to happen. _Mammon..._

Since he had been told about illusions from Mammon and already experienced them, Tsuna was at least able to recognize he had been yet again tricked by one, and that there was only one person he knew who could actually cast illusions. With that in mind, he figured Mammon had decided to help him, but he didn't know why: Mammon was supposed to be his tutor, so it only made sense for him to teach the subject, not to make him cheat.

"Be quiet!" The teacher had to resort to shouting so as to calm the class down, and succeeded somewhat. The students stared at the teacher expectantly, wanting to see what he would say in regard to the situation. "Ahem, Sawada?" Tsuna tensed from being called. "If you don't mind, can you come over to the board and write how you solved this problem?"

 _I mind, I really mind!_ Tsuna thought, visibly panicked at the question. He glanced at Kyoko, who seemed to be staring at him in curiosity; Tsuna immediately turned away from her. _Aaah, what do I do? I'll look really bad in front of Kyoko-chan if she finds out I cheated...!_ "Sawada?" Tsuna flinched.

Having already been in a standing position from being chosen to answer, Tsuna simply walked over at a slow pace, dreading the embarrassment he was going to feel after going back to his seat again. Reaching for the white chalk when he got there, he noticed that his hands were trembling. _I'm done for...! I should just say I guessed the answer, it would at least be better than this!_

However, before he could drop the chalk and do so, something appeared on the board, right next to the space he was planning on writing on. _This is...!_ It was, like the illusion of the answer, an illusion of how to reach said answer, making Tsuna's expression brighten as he realized that. Although he felt bad for cheating, he didn't want to experience what would happen if he decided not to do it so, giving Kyoko one last glance, he started copying the illusion on the board.

 **. . .**

 **. . .**

The class only watched in absolute shock as Tsuna's wobbly numbers seemed to actually form a coherent answer, not even uttering a word. The silence only made Tsuna more nervous than before, afraid that he was actually writing something wrong by accident: he couldn't afford to fail, not when he had already answered correctly.

 **. . .**

... When Tsuna finished, the teacher couldn't believe his eyes. "I-I, I see you've been studying hard, Sawada; that's correct. You may go back to your seat." Tsuna breathed a sigh of relief before quickly moving back to his seat and sitting down. _I'm safe...!_ he thought in utter happiness, resting his head on his school desk as if that tired from what had happened. The teacher narrowed his eyes. "Just because you got a question right just this once doesn't mean you can sleep around, Sawada!"

Tsuna immediately straightened himself. "Hii, I'm sorry!" Even then, the class didn't laugh like they usually would. That in itself unsettled Tsuna, as it was a change he had never expected: his classmates seemed to be whispering to each other again, and it was definitely about Tsuna. "Hmm?" Tsuna uttered when he, from the corner of his eye, spotted someone looking at him. _K-Kyoko-chan!_

Kyoko had been staring at him, midly surprised. Tsuna turned to her in a flustered manner, making her notice that she had been doing so. With that, Kyoko gave him a smile before focusing on class again, seemingly in a good mood.

 **. . .**

... Tsuna's face became completely red as he looked down at the floor, hoping that not having Kyoko on his line of sight would make him calm down. Afterwards, finding that he would most likely get scolded if the teacher were to see him like that, Tsuna looked up and at the board, despite not being focused on what the teacher was saying at all. Looking back on what had just happened to him, No-Good Tsuna, he couldn't help but smile.

That event would surely go down in No-Good History: Tsuna's first right answer since pre-school. Even if it had been achieved by cheating, it was still quite the accomplishment.

Meanwhile, Mammon, who had been observing the classroom from an opened window, was smirking at the reactions he had seen from everyone due to Tsuna answering something correctly: they were admittedly funny, especially when he had actually been the cause of it instead of Tsuna. Whatever the case, everything had gone according to plan: Tsuna was at least able to successfully cheat which was convenient since that meant Mammon's backup plans were unnecessary.

Even so, that success was merely a part of the much bigger plan he had in mind for improving the loser that was No-Good Tsuna: he had come up with it after considerable thought while watching Tsuna's classes go by, and he was sure it would work for the better. Besides, it was only his second day in Namimori so failures could be overlooked due to Mammon not knowing Tsuna, his target, well enough.

As he thought of it, there was a need for Mammon to collect information on Tsuna and his surroundings. Seeing as there were many more classes left for Tsuna to go through, Mammon knew that he would rather get to it than to keep watching them, so, without much effort, he left the area.

* * *

 **. . .**

* * *

As expected, nothing noteworthy happened during the time Mammon was gone to gather information, and he could guess no teacher asked him a question afterwards either. With that in mind, he had returned to Tsuna's side right when the bell rang for the end of classes, and was now simply walking next to him as they went home.

"H-hey," Tsuna called nervously, hoping to get Mammon's attention.

Mammon simply turned around and uttered, "Hm?"

That had served to make Tsuna feel worse, but he knew he had to go through with the question he was about to ask as it was that important. "You... You helped with that question, didn't you? B-by showing the answer on the board..."

"I did," Mammon simply answered. While he had some idea of where he was going with the conversation, he decided to see for himself what Tsuna would do after his response; his expectations weren't very high.

Tsuna glanced at Mammon uncomfortably before saying, "But why did you do it? Everyone's attention was on me because I got it right; what if they start thinking I'm not No-Good anymore?!" The fact that his classmates (or the whole school in general, really) would stop thinking he was No-Good was not Tsuna's problem: instead, the fact that they'd think he was no longer No-Good while he still was the same was what bothered him the most.

After all, that would mean Tsuna would crush everyone's hopes, and make them see that he actually wasn't making any effort; they could think he had cheated (which he had, all things considered). "That's precisely why I did it," Mammon bluntly said, "I want the whole school to stop thinking you're a loser, and what a better way to start than to impress your classmates with a correctly answered math problem?"

"W-wait, you want everyone to stop thinking I'm No-Good?! Why would you do that?! If everyone finds out I'm still the same after they stop hating me, it'll be even worse than before!" Tsuna protested, seeing the many problems that would cause. _And what would Kyoko-chan think of me if she found out...? I don't even want to imagine that..._

Just the mere thought of her hating him made him depressed. "Who said you'd stay the same? I'm here to make you better, remember? Since that will take as long as you'd expect, I'm giving you an incentive: after all, if you have the whole school backing you up, I'm sure you'll want to keep it that way; it'll build your atrocious confidence too."

 _He... actually put a lot of thought into it._ Tsuna was admittedly surprised, as Mammon had shown a clear lack of interest in tutoring him: sure, it was his mission to do so, but Tsuna would expect less effort from him due to his lack of motivation. What he didn't know, of course, was that Mammon could not, under any circumstance, show signs of not being committed to teach Tsuna: otherwise, his true mission would fail. "E-even if you tell me that, it's impossible for me to become better: I mean, I'm called No-Good for a reason!"

"At least you're self-aware," Mammon remarked. _Yeah, but you're not supposed to be saying that out loud..._ Tsuna thought with a blank gaze. "But, as far as I'm concerned, I'm going to have to make that happen: we don't have any choice in this matter. Besides, now that you've answered something correctly for the first time, you can't turn back; you have to keep up the lie."

Tsuna could only feel his depression intensify at the sight of Mammon smirking, knowing that he was right and that he really did have no choice. Even so, he was not going to readily accept such a burden. "This is way too risky, Mammon...!" Tsuna exclaimed, "I don't need to be liked by the whole school either, so this is pointless!" _Yeah, as long as Kyoko-chan is there..._

Truly, his only motivation to come to school was Kyoko, and not much else: as long as he could see her smile and admire her from afar, he was somewhat content with his No-Good life. "Really now? Then what about that girl you like, Kyoko Sasagawa, was it?" Unfortunately, it seemed like Mammon knew that weakness of his; Tsuna dreaded to hear the rest of his words. "She's the most popular girl in the school, or so I heard: if you become just as popular as her, if not more, you'd have a chance; can you say it's pointless after this?"

 _Me, a chance? With Kyoko-chan...?_ Tsuna shook his head furiously. _No, he's just tricking me, he must be! I already know I can never be with her, so there's no use listening to him!_ "It is since it won't work!" Tsuna countered, looking somewhat angry due to his weakness having being exploited (not that it wasn't very hard to do so in the first place).

"Hm, your denial sure is troublesome..." Mammon muttered, a frown on his face. That sort of immature attitude was not something he really liked having to deal with, and it seemed like Tsuna would use it a lot: instead of facing his own problems, he would outright avoid and deny them.

Perhaps that was why he was such a loser, Mammon figured. "It's not denial!" The fact that Tsuna was denying denial was quite ironic, but Tsuna did not notice that.

"Whatever you say," Mammon said, "In the end, you'll still have to deal with cheating in classes and becoming a mafia boss, so it doesn't matter what you think; you're accomplishing nothing." After that, Mammon faced forward, as if to imply that the conversation was over.

Tsuna looked on at him, somewhat saddened. _He's right, but... I'm not just going to accept all this! And I'm not gonna be a mafia boss either!_ Tsuna sighed, still finding his situation terrible: if he hadn't decided to cheat, he most likely would not have to deal with that situation, or so he thought; Mammon had backup plans for that. _Besides, me, popular? There's no way that could ever happen and even if it did, there's no way someone like me could keep it up without being found out either; and Kyoko-chan..._

Meanwhile, Mammon found himself in somewhat of a predicament: it wouldn't look very good on him if the only thing he had to report to the Ninth was that he was unwilling to learn; that was unfortunately something he had to solve. If he weren't from the Varia, the pressure for success wouldn't have had to be so great, but since the Ninth was surely counting on Mammon having ulterior motives (which he did, all things considered), there was no choice but to comply with them: failing could mean the end of the Varia.

... Mammon started considering that the Ninth probably ripped him off with that payment.

* * *

 **. . .**

* * *

At the Ninth's office in the Vongola's Headquarters, a certain hitman and the Ninth were gathered: it had been said hitman that requested the meeting, in fact. While the Ninth was sitting at his spot behind the desk, the hitman, Reborn, was sitting on quite the cozy seat as well, his chameleon on top of his shoulder.

"So," he cut to the chase, "I heard you chose a new boss candidate and made a member of the Varia tutor him; just what exactly were you thinking?" If anything, Reborn wasn't sure what to think of that situation: while it was obviously dangerous to leave someone of the Varia to do that job, the Ninth would have certainly had some sort of plan behind it.

... And, as he had gotten to know throughout the years, Ninth's plans were always something to look forward to, even if its failure could very well mean the end of the Vongola. The Ninth chuckled. "That reached even the Cavallone Mansion? Rumors spread fast within the Vongola and its alliances, I see."

"Nah, I just have my methods," Reborn responded with a shrug, "And it looks like it's true; you might just be losing your wisdom with age: you spent your money to hire someone like that instead of asking someone like me to do it? You know I wouldn't have minded." For someone as strong as Reborn, tutoring one or two losers was nothing, and surely the Ninth was aware of that; Reborn couldn't help but question his motives further.

Somehow, despite Reborn's words, the Ninth could still keep a smile; he knew Reborn had no ill will. "That I did, but I couldn't just pull you out of your mission with the Cavallone Family and I believe the tutor I've picked, Mammon, is capable enough to handle that job."

Reborn took note of that name mentally. He did not know of the members of the Varia for the most part, having never needed to gather information about them: perhaps that would have to change. "We both know that's not the problem with hiring him: it's where his loyalty lies that makes everyone who knows uneasy; the Varia must be planning something." In fact, it was almost guaranteed that they were planning something: it was simply unthinkable for the Varia, a group completely loyal to Xanxus, to ever want to bother with another candidate for the position of Boss.

That was what made the Ninth's actions seem very odd, even for someone like Reborn, who had known him for years: surely he would be aware of how much of a bad idea it would be to trust the Varia. "Who knows? They've been quiet for so many years now," the Ninth said, "I know that it is a reckless decision but, as my most trusted hitman, I'd like your understanding: this is a gamble of sorts for me, but if it all goes well, which is what I am hoping, it'd all be worth it; I believe in Tsunayoshi-kun."

 **. . .**

... Reborn had no objections after those words; he smirked. "Hmph, if you say so," he responded, "But don't complain if I just happen to want to change Pipsqueak Dino's training spot to Japan someday, you know, for a change of pace."

"I wouldn't dream of it."

* * *

 **Author's Notes:**

* * *

And there goes this target, which sets up what Mammon will be doing with Tsuna and the fact that Reborn has heard of this... and the Varia too, but honestly, you already knew of that so that scene was literally just me wanting to write more Varia ^^' Unfortunately, Tsuna is in denial like always, oh no! Well, not that it was unexpected of him, but still...

Yeah, I never really liked that side of him but hey, I can't just make that kind of dramatic change to his character so you're gonna have to deal with it... temporarily; I have plans. He still won't want to become a mafia boss though, it's just for other parts: I mean, if Reborn can't convince him after saving the world and unraveling all sorts of Arcobaleno mysteries, I'm sure Mammon would experience difficulties as well.

Speaking of that, the Mammon/Tsuna dynamic is still quite amazing to process: I mean, Tsuna still has stuff to point out since Mammon has a thing for insulting him whenever he gets the chance as if it were nothing (probably to forget that he got real ripped off lol), but it's not the same as Reborn since Mammon is so level-headed; the way Mammon reacts to Tsuna is different. Besides, Tsuna and Mammon both don't want to do their stuff: Mammon is just more mature about it and practically has a gun pointed at his head should he fail. This really differs from Reborn, who genuinely cares about making Tsuna a proper mafia boss to succeed the Ninth.

With that in mind, we did need to see Reborn, didn't we? That's why I wrote that scene: I don't think Reborn would just keep quiet with finding out such news, but I'm sure Reborn would totally respect the Ninth's decision in the end; it was nice writing him after so much Mammon. I mean, I write more of Reborn than Mammon due to my main story (and the limited chances I get in canon to write Mammon), but in this story, I missed the guy. Beyond that, Reborn, in the series, was basically the anchor keeping everything tied to Tsuna: without it, a lot of characters disappear from the cast since most of them were actually called by Reborn.

Seriously, I can't have either Gokudera or Lambo because Reborn isn't the home tutor, and they're important characters (since they're guardians): I also won't have Bianchi, Shamal, and a few others so Tsuna will be slightly lonelier. Even so, have no fear! I have an idea of which people will become the Storm and Lightning Guardians in this story! For now, I just really need to hope canon will help me out here since I'm doing KHR without its titular character; it's admittedly hard.

Hopefully nothing was very OOC; please tell me if I failed at something! Anyway, look forward to the next target?


	5. Target 4

**First Words:**

* * *

 **Tsuyoshi - While the suggestions are most definitely appreciated, I already have an idea of who the Guardians will be: the only ones that won't still be Tsuna's Guardians are Gokudera and Lambo, since they were called by Reborn in canon (however, I have plans for them too). Even so, I put your suggestions in consideration: I've actually thought about making Mochida the Storm Guardian before having read this review, but opted not to do it because that would mean having two swordsman Guardians; Mochida's the captain of the Kendo club, after all.**

 **Moe - ... Are you Tsuyoshi? I feel as if you are the same person; do forgive me if I'm wrong ^^' But holy shit, Hana with an axe? That's... extreme, I guess 0.0 Even so, I'll definitely have to consider those weapons since I admittedly lack creativity when it comes to fighting. As for what you've suggested, I'll simply tell you that one of your guesses (for the Guardians, not the weapons ^^') is correct and leave it at that. Yeah, I figured Mammon wouldn't do things the right away, so cheating it is to develop Tsuna's confidence (rather than having him run around in his boxers)! Either way, thank you for your words, even if they were admittedly hard to decipher; if anything, thank you for reviewing in general!**

 **Guest - ... Could it be...? I'll just answer anyway without making assumptions ^^ But omg, Lancia? I didn't even think of the guy :0 The problem is that I don't think he'd want to stick around in Japan, instead travelling around to repent for his crimes. Besides, not even I'm sure what'll happen to the guy in this story's Kokuyo arc: in KHR, Tsuna beats him in Dying Will Mode. However, in KIM, there's no Dying Will Bullets; things might just turn out wildly different from canon. Ahaha, the fact that you want the Storm Guardian to still be Tsuna's right-hand man is amazing because when I played a certain KHR game (it's a KHR nintendo game about conquering everyone's territory and getting them to join your family 8D), I'd claim the character I want as this story's Storm Guardian to be my right-hand man instead of Gokudera XD  
**

... Yup, I couldn't make these shorter (believe me, I tried!); I think you'll have to get used to it ^^' Anyway, this story got 2 favorites and 7 followers since the last target, thank you very much! To be honest, there isn't much to comment about this target without bringing out any spoilers, so I think I'm better off not saying anything to make these First Words any longer.

Whatever the case, enjoy!

* * *

 **Target 4: Life Is Unfair**

* * *

On the next day of classes, Tsuna had been asked another question, almost as if the teacher wanted to prove the previous one hadn't been accomplished by accident or if it had been just some sort of dream. As expected, the answer was on the board for Tsuna to see; he glanced at the window, having a feeling Mammon was there. _Should I answer or not...? If I do, I'll dig an even deeper hole for myself, but..._

He shifted his gaze to Kyoko, who was looking at Tsuna expectantly with a smile: it was if she wanted to see him get it right again. _If I don't, Kyoko-chan will probably be disappointed... Argh, why did I have to answer that problem correctly yesterday, now it's just like Mammon said!_ "Sawada!" the teacher shouted, finding that he was spacing out far too much for his liking.

"U-u-uh, yes! I-it's 3,76!" Tsuna, out of mere impulse, responded right away, using the number he had seen on the board. _Ah, I said it now; I really can't turn back..._ Tsuna looked down at his desk, clearly in low spirits as his classmates whispered among each other. Once again, they were shocked that he had answered it correctly, finding it too much of a miracle that Tsuna had finally started showing some intelligence.

Tsuna glanced briefly at Kyoko, only to see her smiling cheerfully at him: seeing her like that, Tsuna couldn't help but stop feeling so down. "C-correct again," the teacher reluctantly said, only to clear his throat again. "Anyway, a-as you can see..." Beyond those words, Tsuna had stopped listening, finding the situation too hopeless to bother with anything else. _Now what do I do...?_

Tsuna groaned. "Sawada!"

"Y-yes, I'm sorry!"

* * *

 **. . .**

* * *

Lunch break had begun, and Tsuna was not in the best of moods: it seemed like the Math teacher had told every other teacher of his class about how he could all of a sudden know his subject, as he had been asked a question in every class. He answered those correctly as well, completely shocking those teachers: really, that only made Tsuna more depressed.

He wasn't very sure how to feel in the situation he had been put in: the smiles Kyoko would give him whenever he cheated made him want to keep going, but the fact that it all originated from such underhanded tactics also made him feel regretful for lying to her; it was complicated.

 _"... If you become just as popular as her, if not more, you'd have a chance..."_

Mammon's words rung in his head, as if asserting themselves on him, reminding him of their existence; that they were true. _That doesn't guarantee anything...! I'm not just going to go along with this just because Kyoko could like me better! Even if... my dream is to marry her..._ He could feel his face getting red just thinking about it. _But I'm not gonna lie just for that; if anything, that would hurt Kyoko-chan more if she found out!_

However, Mammon had told him he would make him reach the level he was going to pretend to have so as to straighten it all out. _But how long would it take for me to reach that...? It's probably impossible anyway—_ "Huh?" Tsuna uttered as he spotted something strange at the classroom's exit. _Kyoko-chan...?_

Kyoko-chan was there indeed, and her best friend, Hana Kurokawa, was with her but they weren't the only ones. Outside the classroom but by the door was an upperclassman with spiky black hair, a somewhat smug expression on his face. Curious, Tsuna couldn't help but stare at them, knowing they were definitely talking about something, even if it really wasn't in his place to hear it. "Well, I wouldn't really mind," Kyoko said, though she didn't look very comfortable. If anything, she seemed immensely hesitant, saddened even, at the whatever it was she had agreed to: it was as if she decided to go along with it not because she wanted to, but because she felt she had to... or so Tsuna had somehow been able to deduct from her expression.

 _What's wrong...?_ Not only that, but Tsuna didn't like the look in that upperclassman's eyes: he had no specific reason, and it hadn't been jealousy either, it was just... unpleasant, as if he was looking at Kyoko in a condescending manner. "It looks like that's that, Mochida-senpai," Hana said with a smile and winked at Kyoko; Kyoko only gave her a confused look, seemingly lost. "Surely, with the two of you, you could finish your work much faster."

"Exactly!" Mochida exclaimed and nodded proudly afterwards, smirking at them.

Meanwhile, Mammon, who was also watching by the window, picked up on how Tsuna did not seem all that satisfied with the situation. _Being the spineless loser he is, he probably won't step up to it,_ he thought, and wondered if having him do so would improve him in any way; would his confidence increase?

Even so, Mammon's plan was mainly to have his grades increase for the time being (which would lead to that end result eventually): the rest would be after that. Besides, there was the risk of Tsuna's reputation lowering if he did take action, or even worse, a fight. Mammon was completely aware that Tsuna could not fight anything to save his life: due to that, he wanted to avoid one while he was building up his reputation; losing one would bring about in tragic results, after all.

... However, before he knew it, Tsuna had stood up from his seat and started moving at a fast pace. "Hm?" Admittedly, Mammon hadn't been expecting that reaction, so he was curious as to how it would go: since he was still fairly infamous throughout the school, getting into trouble would probably not do much to his reputation, Mammon figured.

"E-excuse me!" With his lunch box in hand, Tsuna rushed past Kyoko and Hana as they happened to be blocking the door. **"W-waah...!"** Despite that, he had bumped into Mochida, and the collision had made them both lose their balance and fall to the floor. _Oh no, what did I just do?!_

It had really just been an impulse to leave the classroom, and even if it that wasn't the case, he had to leave at some point: they just happened to be in the way. At least, that was the excuse: Tsuna, deep inside him, just wanted to interrupt the situation in general; Kyoko had looked too sad to just let it go. "Ow..." Tsuna groaned as he picked up his boxed lunch, only to find that its contents had been spread about the hallway... and onto Mochida. _Hiii, I'm so doomed!_

"What the hell...?!" Mochida immediately uttered after processing what had just happened to him: as far as he had been concerned, he was securing a date with Kyoko disguised as committee work until some random student bumped into him all of a sudden; it wasn't very ideal to him. In fact, it had surprised him at such a level that it took him a while to even notice the food spilled on him.

... And when he did, he was _mad._ "You, underclassman!" He quickly stood up with a scowl on his face, pointing at Tsuna accusingly. "Do you know what you just did?!"

Many classmates and students passing by surrounded the area after hearing those words, curious, confused and/or surprised at the situation in general. Kyoko and Hana only looked on in shock, until Hana narrowed her eyes at Tsuna. "Oh, so it's No-Good Tsuna," she said, "You should pay attention when you're walking, you hear me?"

Tsuna, having realized the absolutely humiliating experience he had just created for himself, felt more like hiding in a hole than anything. "W-wait, it's not like it's only his fault: we were blocking the way, too..." Kyoko defended, albeit in a weak manner; her words did not reach the crowd around them.

The only person who did pay attention was Hana, who frowned at her. "Huh, No-Good Tsuna? No wonder this happened: it looks like the rumors about you are true!" Mochida said, wiping some rice off of his clothes afterwards with a disgusted look on his face. "Now, how are you going to make up for this, huh?"

"Hiiii...!" Tsuna merely dragged himself away from Mochida in fear, earning some laughs from the surrounding students. _Ah, why did I do that, why...?!_ He glanced at Kyoko, who was staring at him worriedly. _And in front of Kyoko-chan too...!_

 _I mean, I... I just didn't want to see Kyoko-chan looking like that but, in the end, I only did worse..._ "There's our No-Good Tsuna! At least his clumsiness is intact; we almost thought he'd been replaced or something!" one of his classmates commented while snickering, others following suit.

Tsuna knew what they were going to say, so he didn't pay much attention: instead, he looked around, trying to find a way to escape from the situation. Hesitantly, he stood up, finding Mochida still glaring at him. "Huh?! Speak, No-Good Tsuna!" he demanded, annoyed that he was doing nothing in particular.

Mochida treaded towards him, planning on having Tsuna speak, even if by using force: after what had happened to him, he found that to be more than fair. Noticing that, Tsuna's eyes widened in surprise and he took a step back, unsure of what action to take. _I can't escape; I'm gonna have to take this guy head on...! There's no way I'm getting out of this without him beating the crap out of me!_

"Hey, what do you think you're doing?" Suddenly, a voice had cut off the entire situation, a voice every Namimori Middle School student feared; everyone turned its way. Walking towards the scene with narrowed eyes was Kyoya Hibari in his full glory, seemingly annoyed. "If you keep crowding like that, I'll bite you all to death."

Everyone that had been surrounding Tsuna, Mochida, Hana and Kyoko disappeared right after hearing that, leaving only them. Mammon, who had still been observing, found that to be quite curious: as far as he was aware, the school had a Disciplinary Committee, and it was rather well known for its intimidating leader. _He's not showing any openings,_ Mammon commented in his mind, _He's not just a normal kid, I see._

"Hi-Hi-Hibari-san!" Hibari shifted his attention to Mochida from having heard that, but that had only made him go quiet. Knowing that, Hibari then focused on the food on the floor: whoever did it was one of the four people in the area, he deducted before looking up at Mochida... and then at Tsuna, who had the lunch box in his hands.

Tsuna flinched. _Hibari-san showed up, this is worse than I thought!_ "This commotion was all your doing, right?" He seemed to be referring to everyone, not actually bothering to catch a particular culprit: as far as he was concerned, each one of them had most likely contributed to the incident, making them all guilty in his mind. "If you don't want to get bitten to death, then you all better get to cleaning that up. If I see any food on the floor after this... you know what'll happen, don't you?"

Everyone nodded right away. "Hmph, then go do that," he simply ordered before leaving, not even turning back to glance at everyone, giving them no chance to protest. _No way...!_

... Before Tsuna knew it, two glares were being directed his way. "No-Good Tsuna, just look at what you did! Because of you, we're gonna have to clean this all up, and it's not even our fault!" Hana complained, her arms crossed.

Mochida, looking nervous for a while, eventually huffed. "As if we'd do any of that: we're the victims here! No-Good Tsuna here should just clean it up all by himself," he said, staring at him darkly, "You will, won't you? You're the one who caused all this after all, so it's only fair you let us ditch and do that work for us!"

"B-but wait, Hibari was the one who assigned this to us," Hana argued, somewhat disconcerted. Everyone knew of just how fearsome Hibari was: anyone who would disobey him could end up in the hospital, no matter who it would be. Naturally, Hana did not want to take that risk, despite not finding her situation to be that pleasant either.

If anything, she also wanted to ditch Tsuna, but was unsure of how that would turn out. "Pah, don't worry about that! He might've ordered us to do it, but he never brings in any supervision: we can ditch just fine as long as No-Good Tsuna does a good enough job at cleaning his own mess up," Mochida said with a knowing smirk, as if confident in his own words. Turning to Kyoko with the same smug expression, he grabbed her arm with considerable force and pulled her towards him. "So come on, Kyoko-chan, let's leave all this to him and have lunch, just the two of us!"

"Wah, wait...!" Kyoko tried to shake off Mochida's hand, surprised that he had even touched her like that in the first place. "Let go!" Only with that shout did Mochida actually let go, but he was giving Kyoko a confused look. Kyoko, saddened at the situation, said, "I... I won't go with you: it wouldn't feel right to leave Sawada-kun alone like this so... I'm cleaning with him! I was in the way of the exit, meaning that I'm partially to blame for all this!"

Tsuna, surprised at that turn of events, simply stared at Kyoko in awe, taking in her emotions. "Kyoko-chan..." he muttered, feeling bad that she was defending someone like him. _I'm really the worst..._

Meanwhile, Mochida was shocked, and Hana seemed outraged. "What the hell's wrong with you, grabbing her arm like that?!" Hana exclaimed, glaring at Mochida. "I should've known you were actually that much of jerk! Ugh, now I feel terrible for Kyoko..."

"W-what?! What did you just say?! What's so wrong with...?!" Mochida looked over his situation, seeing Kyoko's saddened expression, Hana's exasperated face and Tsuna's worrying gaze over Kyoko; it was three against one. "I...!" Somehow, he knew he had no excuses: he turned around and started walking away at a fast pace. "Whatever!"

 **. . .**

 **. . .**

"Hmph, good riddance," Hana remarked in disdain. However, when she looked at Kyoko, her gaze softened. "Hey, I'm sorry, okay? I guess I got in over my head since everyone was teasing you about Mochida-senpai and all that, and didn't bother to check if he was actually the perfect fit for you: now that I think about it, he did always seem to be kind of a snob and controlling..."

She glanced to the side, where Mochida had walked off to. "Hana..." Kyoko muttered, "You don't have to apologize: it's not like any of this was your fault; I should've been more straightforward." For the sake of her friend, Kyoko managed a small smile and with it, started feeling better herself. "I guess in the end, everything turned out well, huh?"

Both Hana and Kyoko turned their attention to Tsuna, who had been stunned for quite a while due to what he had seen. When he noticed their stares on him, Tsuna flinched, seeing as Kyoko (Hana could be put aside in Tsuna's perspective) of all people was staring at him. "U-uh..." _Just what happened anyway? I couldn't follow any of this!_

"Well, not everything: we still have to clean this up because of No-Good Tsuna," Hana pointed out, "So don't think I'll forgive you just because you happened to save Kyoko from that jerk, got it? I'm only gonna help you because Kyoko insisted on it!" Hana crossed her arms yet again, sharply staring at Tsuna.

Tsuna simply stared back at her blankly. "Uh, sure..." _Wait, I saved the day? Didn't I make everything worse? What...? I mean, I guess Mochida-senpai ended up leaving because I caused all this... So, that was actually a good thing?_ Tsuna's mood brightened. _That means I didn't embarrass myself in front of Kyoko-chan, thank goodness!_

"Hey, No-Good Tsuna, did you even listen to me?!" Hana protested, knowing that he was thinking about Kyoko: to her, his crush on Kyoko was that obvious. Due to that, Hana had never really liked Tsuna, finding the idea of him ever ending up with her best friend somewhat repulsive: he was No-Good Tsuna, after all; Kyoko deserved better.

Tsuna flinched again, having always found Hana to be scary: really, they both disliked one another, but not to extreme or even medium levels since they didn't know each other that well. "Y-yeah, I did!" he answered, hoping that would make her leave him alone.

"Hmph, good, then you're getting the cleaning supplies for us," Hana stated, "And you better not ditch us too since you're the actual culprit here!" _Sheesh, I get it...!_ Tsuna thought, agitated with Hana acting in such an intimidating manner.

 _I really wish I would've gotten to be alone with Kyoko-chan though..._ Hana knew that was what Tsuna was thinking, which was precisely why she had made Tsuna go somewhere else. "A-alright..." Tsuna muttered, glancing at Kyoko.

When she noticed that, her smile widened, now wearing a cheerful expression. "Sawada-kun," she called, "Thank you."

 _"Thank you..."_

 _"Thank you..."_

It echoed in his mind almost endlessly, Kyoko's voice, directing such words at him: him, No-Good Tsuna, who would've definitely had no chance with her. _Kyoko-chan... thanked me..._ "Y-y-you're w-welcome, Kyoko-chan...! I'll... I'll go get everything now!" He immediately turned around and ran off, hoping Kyoko had not seen him look that flustered.

... Afterwards, he was smiling blissfully, as if some sort of miracle had descended upon him. _Aaaah... Now that I think about it, I'm going to clean with Kyoko-chan; this means I can talk to her...! I mean, Kurokawa's there too, but... I'll think about that later!_ The fact that Tsuna was giggling as he went through the hallway only made passing students give him strange looks, which he had not been paying attention to.

Mammon, who was following him, couldn't help but find such a display of emotions completely pathetic: however, he thought back on the root of the whole incident. If Tsuna hadn't bumped into Mochida and caused all that, nothing would have changed but now that he had done so, he had taken care of a problem for his crush and got the opportunity to spend time with her too: for Tsuna, it was an ideal outcome, and he had caused it alone.

 _It looks like I won't need to do everything for him after all; that's good to know._ It was already troublesome enough to make him cheat, let alone having to take over his social life. The last thing Mammon wanted to bother with was anything that would involve Tsuna's social life: he didn't need one anyway; mafia bosses didn't need them, at least.

Kyoya Hibari occurred to Mammon's mind, but that soon faded away due to lack of interest. _He might not be any normal kid, but that's none of my business._ The only boy he needed to bother with was Tsuna, and he wanted to keep it that way: taking care of other kids was not something he would like to do without the proper payment.

Whatever the case, Mammon focused on Tsuna again, who was still walking around happily...

* * *

 **. . .**

* * *

Even after school, with no Kyoko in sight, Tsuna was walking home in high spirits for perhaps the first time in his school year. _That was the best day ever... I talked to Kyoko-chan; I actually talked to her!_

 _Aaah, Kyoko-chan is so nice..._ "Good grief, can you even look more pathetic than you are now? You're practically drooling," Mammon remarked, walking by his side with a fairly disinterested expression. While things seemed to be going in a fairly good direction for Tsuna, Mammon couldn't care less: after all, not much actual progress had been made in terms of his own plans for him, and that was the only thing that truly mattered.

Tsuna flinched. "H-huh? Mammon, you were here?!" _I didn't notice him at all!_ Despite that, Mammon hadn't been hiding his presence in the slightest: Tsuna was the one that had been too distracted.

"Seriously, how are you supposed to become a mafia boss like that?" Mammon knew the Ninth was aware of how bad Tsuna was at everything and that, despite that, he was entrusting him with the Vongola anyway. Even so, that alone made no sense, so he did wonder how Tsuna would ever step up to such a position.

People as soft as the Ninth were truly incomprehensible to Mammon. With his words, Tsuna's mood immediately soured. "I don't even wanna become a mafia boss!" Tsuna protested. Now that he wasn't completely happy, he reminded himself of a pending issue related to Mammon, staring at him blankly. "And you gave me all the answers again today! I told you I didn't need to be liked by everyone, so why are you still doing that?"

"Hmph, for someone who's complaining that much, you've been doing exactly what I wanted," Mammon pointed out with a smirk, "You can always ignore the answers if you want, but the results won't be pretty: for example, I bet your crush would be pretty disappointed to see you fail after that winning streak of answers."

Tsuna knew exactly what Mammon had meant, having seen Kyoko smile at him whenever he'd get an answer right, as if cheering for him: if he failed to meet her expectations afterwards, he'd sadden her; he knew that. That was why he was even continuing with them, as he didn't care about anything else related to school. "But she'd be equally disappointed if she found out I was just cheating; I don't wanna risk that! I don't want to be seen in that light by Kyoko-chan..."

"Didn't I already tell you that I'd make sure you'd improve? Your denial goes as far as to make you forget important details, I see." Admittedly, Mammon was annoyed: if he was supposed to deal with that attitude from Tsuna for a long period of time, he'd definitely not be able to tolerate it without requesting a raise in his payment from the Ninth.

 _It's not denial!_ Tsuna thought, staring at Mammon blankly: as far as he was concerned, his complaints were legitimate. However, he also found that Mammon's offer wasn't that bad: if he could improve and be at that level, it could make up for his cheating. Even so, he knew it wouldn't be possible for him to become that good, and it wasn't like that would erase the fact that he had to live a lie in order for it to work, which he admittedly felt bad about. "B-but... It just doesn't feel fair," Tsuna weakly argued, looking down at the ground instead of at Mammon.

... Mammon scoffed, "Of all things you could've said against that, you choose saying that 'it doesn't feel fair'? If you're facing the world with that kind of mentality, it's no wonder you're a complete loser: life isn't fair, and it'll never be." Seeing the surprised look on Tsuna's face made Mammon even more annoyed; he was merely stating facts. "If you don't take advantage of that, then you'll obviously end up behind everyone else: finding the 'fair' way to solve problems only makes them pile up around you; you know why? Because there is none, most of the time. Even when you saw your crush troubled by someone, you didn't play fair, did you?"

"T-that's—!"

"That's the truth, isn't it? You can't hide it from me," Mammon cut Tsuna off, thinking that his words were not worth listening to, "I was watching you, after all. You might've tried to make it look like an accident, but you were planning on interrupting their conversation by passing by; it just didn't go like you wanted it to. If you call what you did 'fair', then you're even more idiotic than I thought."

Mammon was not a very impatient individual: he could tolerate a great amount of things, as long as money was involved. Even when it wasn't, he wouldn't lose his cool easily; he hadn't lost it with Tsuna either. However, it was completely true that he was displeased with Tsuna's naive attitude: denying something because it wasn't fair was like asking Mammon to tell him how stupid he was, and he didn't mind conceding to that urge since he had no choice but to be around Tsuna; he couldn't just ignore him. "It, it wasn't fair, but..." Tsuna hesitated, still being in the middle of processing all of Mammon's words; they had hit him fairly hard. "But it was for Kyoko-chan's sake! Even if it didn't end up well, and I got humiliated in front of everyone else... I don't regret that!"

 _Because, in the end, Kyoko-chan was smiling at me; she thanked me... So, I know I didn't do anything wrong,_ Tsuna thought, seemingly sure of himself. Getting humiliated was nothing new for Tsuna, so he didn't feel especially bad for that: as long as Kyoko hadn't thought of him in a bad light, it wouldn't affect him. "Hmph, saying that only proves how much of a hypocrite you are," Mammon countered, "If you don't regret that, then you don't need to regret cheating: in the end, won't that be for her sake as well?"

"Huh?" Tsuna uttered, confused. _Cheating? For Kyoko-chan's sake? What is he talking about? There's no way that would be for her sake: only Mammon would benefit from that!_ While Tsuna would improve (maybe; when it came to him, one could never be sure), he knew that would only be so he could become a mafia boss, and he definitely didn't want that to happen.

"Good grief, you can't even give something like this deep thought; you really are pitiful," Mammon remarked, "How can you do anything for her if you don't stop having that terrible reputation of yours? As you are, you're useless: you only got to help her today out of pure luck; luck doesn't last long. So, instead of pretending to 'play fair', how about you step up to your cheating and make use of it?" Despite those words, in Mammon's mind, it was already pathetic that Tsuna's motivations would mostly lie on his crush: it just showed how weak-willed he was.

Mafia bosses didn't need crushes: they were weaknesses, easily exploitable ones at that. "Step up..." Tsuna muttered, his hands forming fists. _He's... right: I can't do anything for her like this; I can't help the fact that I'm No-Good. But can't I just return to how I was before? I'm fine with watching her from afar..._ Reminding himself of the fairly enjoyable time he had with Kyoko (and Hana, but he didn't want to remember that) and the smiles she had been giving him since yesterday, Tsuna shook his head, knowing he truly didn't feel that way. _No, I don't want that to end there, just like that; if anything, I want to get closer to Kyoko-chan._ "I'll..." _I know I'm the worst for thinking this, but..._

"I'll do it."

 _I'm already No-Good; I don't think I can go any lower than that._ "It looks like you do have some intelligence after all; I thought you'd go into denial again," Mammon said with a somewhat neutral expression on his face.

"I wasn't in denial before!" Tsuna protested, snapping his head towards Mammon with a blank gaze, having been staring at the ground before. "Besides, it's not like I'm completely on board with this cheating business either! I mean, y-you are going to make sure I improve, right?" _I hope I didn't just dig my own grave from this..._

Despite having agreed to Mammon's plans, Tsuna still felt uncomfortable about them: all the worst case scenarios he had brought up before in his discussions with Mammon were plausible regardless of that, so he felt it was impossible for him to relax with such pressure. "Hmph, Of course; who do you think I am?" Mammon smirked. "In fact, I've already started."

"What?" Tsuna questioned, looking perplexed. "But you haven't done anything..." However, as he thought about it, he had been seeing the same houses for a long time: he was sure he had passed through one of them at least twice. _Wait...!_ "Why am I walking in circles?!"

By that time, he should have been close to his house; instead, he seemed to be at the same spot. "You're not walking in circles, you're just going on a completely different path," Mammon answered, "After all, I'm supposed to make sure you improve physically as well, so you're going to take the long path home." While Mammon did not like anything involving physical prowess, it was part of his mission to train him in that, meaning that he had no choice.

"N-no way!" With widened eyes, Tsuna witnessed the scenery fading away in mist, revealing that he was at the outskirts of Namimori: somehow, he had been able to walk all the way over to them.

"Prepare yourself, Tsuna: a paid job is a paid job, after all. As your tutor, I won't go easy on you." With those words meant to make him on edge, Mammon started turning into black mist, slowly floating away from Tsuna, leaving him alone.

... Noticing that, Tsuna stared incredulously at his surroundings, aware that he was quite far from his house: it would take him a fair amount of time to reach it. _This is supposed to be training...?_

"Are you serious...?!"

* * *

 **Author's Notes:**

* * *

And so ends this target, which makes Tsuna (partially) agree to something for once, hooray! Writing Tsuna like how he was in the beginning is amazing since he really only cares about Kyoko ^^' However, he is also somewhat of a blank canvas, so I do look forward to how he'll turn out with Mammon tutoring him: I'm already making Mammon give out weird morals XD

It's not my fault, Mammon happens to be a really talkative dude, especially when you press his buttons! He doesn't like naive people, so he got really annoyed at Tsuna; he didn't get emotional though, I really want that clarified ^^ At first, I wasn't actually planning on making Tsuna succeed in any way in that Mochida event, but it just turned out like that as I wrote it, and I found that glorious. Also, a lot of fics like making Mochida a recurring bully of Tsuna (having already known him and bullied him before episode 1), but there were never hints of that being in the case in the source material, so I decided to assume that Mochida, in the original KHR, only decided to do something about Tsuna when he confessed to Kyoko because he was interested in her.

Due to that, Mochida didn't know Tsuna, having only heard rumors of how No-Good he was: since this story is a strange hybrid of cannon, you finally got something resembling episode 1, I guess...? Not really: this story isn't following canon at all, and this took place after the time episode 1 should've happened. I enjoyed writing Hana though, and Mochida was a new experience for me: I had never written him before, and I actually kind of liked it too; I don't know why ^^'

Things are going forward! Tsuna is going to use cheats! Mammon is a genius assassin, so he'd know the answers to anything in middle school subjects, no? I'm honestly looking forward to making Mammon and Tsuna talk about other stuff: I just want to see them interact. If anything, I just want to see Mammon interacting with everyone, but Mammon's only watching Tsuna and following him around: the most he's interacted with was Haru. But he's shown interest in Hibari... which he lost right afterwards because he wasn't obligated to deal with the guy.

Whatever the case, look forward to the next target?


	6. Target 5

**First Words:**

* * *

 **Moe - Ah, good to know I didn't guess wrong ^^' Either way, your English is not the incomprehensible part, it's the fact that you don't use any punctuation whatsoever; it's admittedly hard to read. However, if there's any reason not to use it, it's perfectly fine! Whatever the case, I don't want to spoil who I've picked as the Guardians, so the fact that you've got one right stands, and that I agree with you. As for Mochida, I felt like having people with varied weapons would be more true to KHR, so the swordsman duo won't be a thing here... but it might be a thing somewhere else. If you're wondering what the hell I'm talking about, let's see... At the very least, you'll (kind of) understand in two weeks ;D But wait, what do you mean with Mochida thinking of Tsuna as a little brother? That was never in KHR. I love both Kyoko and Hana, and, unfortunately for you, Kyoko will still show up a bunch of times because she matters to Tsuna; sorry...? I can't really do anything about it. Anyway, thank you for reviewing this story yet again! ^^**

 **Asami - Making Tsuna join the Boxing club...? Hmmm... I can't guarantee that'll happen, but I'm definitely considering it, especially since I haven't written a chapter introducing Ryohei yet... I'm not planning on making Tsuna be a total loser: instead, he'll have other strengths developed, I guess. If anything, I'm not even sure gloves will be his weapon, though he really will have to fight since the Kokuyo arc and the Varia arc will totally be a thing; so yeah, not a loser ^^' Either way, thank you for reviewing and giving that suggestion; even if it might not be completely applied, it's definitely appreciated (since it's amazing people are caring enough about this story to do that ^^)!**

Since the last Target, this story got 5 followers! Before, I'd announce how many reviews I got, but then I figured people can already see the amount and that I really have thanked them enough (since I've answered them); hopefully it's not a big deal to anyone. Beyond that, I'd just like to throw out there that this Target was a lot of fun to write since it had a bunch of perspectives and glorious moments. Aaaah, the joy of this story is really how much the fact that the home tutor is different can change KHR completely and that it's in third person (allowing you to see more things). Well, enough about that though... Omg, I just noticed this Target is _huge_ 0.0 Um... Beware of Target length inconsistency? I suck at that kind of thing ;_;

Anyway, enjoy!

* * *

 **Target 5: Mochida's Unexpected Revenge!**

* * *

A few days had passed since Tsuna decided to go along with Mammon's plans (albeit in not the most confident of ways). Currently, they were at Tsuna's room, classes having already ended without any problems. "I-I'm finished," Tsuna nervously announced, his hand shaking as he slid his notebook to Mammon's side.

"Hm?" Mammon paused what he was doing in an indifferent manner, simply placing the milk box he was drinking from on the table; it was strawberry milk, Tsuna noted. He found that strange at first, but it seemed like strawberry milk was Mammon's favorite drink: that was why he had bothered to request Nana to buy them instead of tea for him; Tsuna was not allowed to even touch those boxes. "Finally; I thought you'd take all afternoon."

 _I'm not that slow!_ Tsuna thought in protest, staring at Mammon blankly. Meanwhile, Mammon had taken the notebook with his tiny hands and looked over at Tsuna's efforts with an apathetic expression. An uncomfortable silence was starting to settle in as he did that so, in an attempt to make himself feel less nervous, Tsuna spoke up, "H-how is it?"

Mammon simply kept staring, not even sparing Tsuna a glance.

 **. . .**

 **. . .**

"... I don't know," Mammon started, keeping the same disinterested expression, "if I should congratulate you for failing this badly at a math question you had to solve in classes this very day or keep belittling you for your atrocious lack of intelligence; this is honestly impressive." Tsuna's head nearly fell to the table from Mammon's words. _I knew it...!_

Mammon threw the notebook over to Tsuna, making him flinch in surprise before getting hit in the head by it. "Ow!" The notebook fell to Tsuna's lap while he was knocked back slightly, having gotten completely caught off guard. _Why...?!_

"Good grief, it looks like you also need to work on your reflexes," Mammon remarked, "But first, solve that exercise already: we haven't even gotten to the rest of your homework." Mammon took the milk box and started drinking from the straw in it again, completely prepared to wait for Tsuna.

Truly, without strawberry milk, he could not have been able to get through tutoring Tsuna. Tsuna groaned. "Why did you have to test my reflexes like that...?" Tsuna muttered, putting his hand over his forehead from the pain. "And can you at least tell me what I did wrong?! You're supposed to be my tutor!" He put the notebook back on his table as he complained, annoyed at the fact that Mammon was only casually drinking milk.

 **. . .**

 **. . .**

Noises indicating Mammon was attempting to completely empty the milk box could be heard within the silence that previously occupied the room, originating from its straw; Tsuna gave Mammon a blank look.

 **. . .**

... Mammon finished his strawberry milk, placing the box on the table with a frown. "Do I even need to explain that to you? You got everything wrong," Mammon answered, "You didn't even use the correct formula, and the textbook is right in front of you: if you're not doing this on purpose then you really go over normal levels of stupidity."

"Y-you don't have to go that far!" Tsuna pointed to the textbook, which was open and showing various summaries of the subject he was studying and a few exercises on the side; specifically, he pointed at one of the formulas displayed there. "Besides, isn't this the one I'm supposed to use? I'm pretty sure I used that one!"

Mammon, having a feeling he was going to regret his choice, looked over the area Tsuna was pointing at, seemingly disinterested. "You're on the wrong page," he immediately said, "It's page 64. I'm not even going to ask how you somehow thought equations could be applied to calculating the volume of a cylinder; I already know it's because you're a hopeless case." With those words, Mammon turned around and started leaving his seat. "I'm going to the bathroom: while I do that, at least try solve that exercise so you can show me something that isn't completely wrong afterwards."

As Mammon left the room, Tsuna gazed at the two milk boxes left by Mammon on his table. _No wonder he needs to go to the bathroom..._ Tsuna sighed. _Mammon is way too blunt: I mean, I know I'm No-Good, but he doesn't need to rub it on me so much; it's like he has a grudge on me or something_. "I wonder why..." he muttered before looking down at his notebook, feeling depressed yet again. "I don't wanna do this..."

After having decided to improve in order to justify his cheating, he had to actually be diligent and do his homework, which was used by Mammon as a way to teach him; needless to say he was starting to regret his decision. Despite having confidently said he would make Tsuna 'improve', Tsuna had seen no effort being put to teaching him: if he had any doubts, asking Mammon was pointless because he would simply tell him to look at the textbook and figure it out himself because it had all the explanations already.

Apparently, if Tsuna could not learn by himself, he was stupid in Mammon's perspective: to Tsuna, it simply defeated the purpose of having Mammon around in the first place. However, it was too late to complain: he already had Mammon as his home tutor and he had already agreed to try his best to actually stop being No-Good; he could not turn back now. _Why did I have to agree to this...? I should've just said no..._ After thinking that, he reminded himself of the time he was able to spend with Kyoko cleaning the mess he made; he couldn't help but smile at that. _After that, she's been greeting me every day... Ah, I wish I could talk to Kyoko-chan like that again..._

... Snapping out of his fantasies, Tsuna focused on his notebook again; he stared at it blankly. _But, I have to do this thing first... I really don't wanna; homework sucks._ Reluctantly, he took his eraser and started to erase all of his wasted effort, already knowing he'd get the question wrong again...

* * *

 **. . .**

* * *

On the next day, Tsuna was walking to school in low spirits. He yawned as he approached the school gates, not expecting anything in particular to happen to him: the teachers had already processed the fact that Tsuna was suddenly smarter than before, so he wasn't getting exercises to solve on every class anymore. _Thank goodness for that..._ Tsuna thought, reminding himself of Mammon's plans.

He not only had to do his homework, but also all the exercises he had to answer in class so as to cover up his cheating: sometimes, they'd overlap, like with yesterday, which was supposedly easier for him. Unfortunately, he wasn't exactly what anyone would call 'intelligent', so he would struggle with solving everything, especially without any actual help from Mammon.

In the end, Tsuna had only finished everything at 1 AM, having been forced not to fall asleep by Mammon, who would use his illusions on him. "Ah, Sawada-kun!" Tsuna immediately turned to the source of that voice, knowing it was Kyoko. "Good morning; you're early today!" _Well, there's no way I wouldn't be with Mammon forcing me..._

For a brief moment, Tsuna wore a disturbed expression, reminding himself of how he had been woken up: with tentacles... However, due to having Kyoko smiling at him cheerfully right there, he managed a small smile while looking to the side, flustered. "G-good morning, Kyoko-chan." There was no way he could think of the outright evil things done to him by Mammon when he was in front of someone like Kyoko, so Tsuna's mood brightened considerably.

"Keep working hard, Sawada-kun!" she cheered, referring to how well he had been doing in classes lately. That was an effort Kyoko had noticed and found admirable, especially since he had such infamously bad grades: due to that, she found a need to support him, in a way. "Oh, but don't over-exert yourself, okay? You don't look like you had much sleep yesterday..."

Tsuna flinched. _She can see the dark circles...!_ Seeing as he had been awake until late hours, it was only natural that he would have dark circles under his eyes, indicating his lack of sleep. However, the fact that he was exposing them to Kyoko of all people only made him feel depressed. "Ah, i-it's alright! There's no need to worry!" he immediately said, shaking his head in denial.

"If you say so," she responded, only to smile cheerfully again. "You can go on ahead to school; I'll be waiting for Hana here by the gates." Tsuna felt even more disheartened at those words. _But I wanted to talk with her more...!_ he thought, but knew it wouldn't be the best of ideas to say so and actually be there until Hana arrived, as it would make him have to deal with her. Not only that, but he didn't want to seem weird by saying that he wanted to spend more time with her, especially when Tsuna had started getting along with her.

However, he did truly want to talk to her more. "Uh..." _I want to, but..._ "I-I'll get going then!" _I really can't say that...!_ With those thoughts, Tsuna started walking inside the school grounds at a fast pace, making Kyoko stare at him curiously as he did so before waving at him.

"See you in class!" Tsuna heard her shout that in a bright manner; his cheeks only reddened at that. He kept walking, having not even turned to her once out of sheer embarrassment: what if Kyoko would notice him turning back? There was no way he would take that chance. In the same way he hadn't said anything about wanting to talk to her more, he wasn't going to turn back either.

... Mammon, who had been watching all of that without being seen, spoke up, "Seriously, that was pitiful; just grow a backbone and tell her what you want." While Mammon did not care about Tsuna's romantic endeavors at all, he did care about Tsuna's confidence, which was severely lacking: even if he didn't like Tsuna and showed it openly, Mammon did have to improve him in such areas as well.

After all, a mafia boss without confidence was a failure in anyone's eyes: all leaders needed confidence to assert their rule. Tsuna, surprised at the fact that Mammon had started talking to him while he was on school grounds (which was the first time he had done that), jumped back. "M-Mammon...! Where...?!" He looked around, but didn't see Mammon; that was because Mammon had made it so.

However, Tsuna was unaware of it, so he was still looking around the area. "To your side," Mammon simply answered, "But no one can see me, so don't raise your voice again unless you want to look crazy in front of everyone here." Tsuna focused on his right side with a confused expression, still processing that Mammon was invisible to him. That made him even more oblivious to the stares he had been getting, which Mammon had noticed a while ago.

It was the reason why Mammon had even bothered speaking up in the first place. "Get away from there; go to that corner you're facing," Mammon ordered, a frown on his face as he saw the small group of male students still glaring at Tsuna; they were up to something, he noted.

"Huh?" Tsuna uttered, even more confused than before. _Why is he saying that all of a sudden?_ He looked toward the corner he thought Mammon was referring to and saw nothing of note there. As far as he was aware, that location wasn't very frequently traversed, at least not by most students: in general, shady corners like those would either have no one or delinquents.

Due to that, Tsuna was finding Mammon's sudden order strange. "Just go there; we need to talk." _Talk?_ Tsuna questioned in his mind, glancing to the side as if to try to spot what was wrong. Unfortunately, the group that was staring at Tsuna had been behind him and at a fair distance from him; not only that, but they had already left. Due to that, Tsuna had not been able to detect them at all.

... Reluctantly, Tsuna nodded, reasoning that Mammon would probably have a good reason for his actions. He started to walk, unsure of whether Mammon was already there or if he was actually still to his side but invisible. _What's up with him all of a sudden...?_ Tsuna thought, still confused about the whole situation.

When he did get to the corner Mammon had pointed him to (or so he assumed), Mammon suddenly appeared in front of him, making him flinch. "M-Mammon...! Don't just show up like that!" he protested, somewhat startled.

"Hmph, I've been here all along," Mammon countered, "Either way, you need to know you're being targeted: it'd be troublesome if you had to go against anyone right now." After all, Tsuna was still weak and without strengths, so having him fight anyone would be too big of a risk that would make all his hard work not be worth it: in other words, having him be in any danger would be disastrous.

Meanwhile, Tsuna's eyes widened in shock. "I'm being t-targeted?! What do you mean with that?!" _Why would anyone target me?!_ Tsuna paled. _Don't tell me it's some sort of weird mafia assassin...! Nooooo!_ He could already see it in his mind: a man with a black suit, chasing after him swiftly with a gun in hand, aiming for his head... all because he happened to be the next boss of a mafia family.

It only asserted how much Tsuna wanted to have his life back to normal; the mafia was dangerous. Tsuna did not want to get involved with dangerous things, and he was positive being in the mafia would immediately increase the danger on him. It would also make him involved in illegal business, which was the last thing he would ever want. "It's exactly what I mean: remember that boy you knocked over and spilled all your food on? He was watching you, along with a few others; they're up to something."

"What?!" _The same guy...? Mochida-senpai?!_ "N-no way...!" he exclaimed, agitated at the piece of news he had received. Bullying was nothing new to Tsuna, but he definitely wanted to avoid any physical harm on him if it were to ever befall him: insults were bearable, but violence was not. Usually, he would run away, but when he couldn't...

... Things weren't be pretty, he would know that much. "It's the truth," Mammon asserted, seemingly neutral to the situation, "In fact, he's been watching you ever since that day, probably thinking of how to get his revenge on you. But, this is the first time he had a group with him, which could mean he's making a move today. Admittedly, that'd be troublesome for me, so you'd better be careful."

 _Only because it'd be troublesome for you...?_ Tsuna thought with a blank gaze. Whatever the case, he nodded as he didn't want anything to happen either. "O-okay," he reluctantly answered, already thinking of how to completely avoid Mochida. Since he was an upperclassman, he would have classes on a different floor from his, making him have some time to escape if he were to immediately leave at lunch break. However, that would not guarantee he couldn't find him, or that he would have anything to prevent him from going anywhere.

Besides, Mochida could be planning to do something after school instead of at lunch break. The fact that Tsuna had no idea of his plans only made him more nervous, unsure of what precautions to take. _Well, at the very least, I know that I'll have to run away..._

Admittedly, that did not boost Tsuna's confidence.

* * *

 **. . .**

* * *

Meanwhile, Kyoya Hibari had been merely checking out a certain room of the school, one he felt more appropriate for his committee than a normal classroom: the Reception Room. To begin with, it was already a stupid decision from the faculty to assign a normal classroom to the Disciplinary Committee; those people would be punished, Hibari noted. Truly, a room with such comfortable seats, sizable space, and windows big enough for him to take in the view of his beloved school was the only room fit to accommodate him.

With that in mind, on the next meeting with the committee leaders, he was actually going to appear to assert the change of room arrangements; they would have no say in the matter, of course. Hibari stepped over to the windows, wanting to judge how good of a view they had to the school: as expected, it was nice. The school grounds were in plain sight, and so was the school pool. However, he didn't have the greatest view to the buildings in general, so there wasn't much to gaze at beyond areas related to PE.

Well, at least it was better than the _normal classroom_ assigned to him. A normal classroom... While wondering when exactly he would punish most of the school's faculty, Hibari spotted something from the corner of his eye and raised an eyebrow curiously. Focusing his gaze on a corner of the school near its entrance visible from the window, he could see there was a student with brown, spiky hair, a nervous frown on his face.

A weakling, Hibari noted; nothing of interest... if there weren't a cloaked infant with him, one who surely did not belong in the school. They seemed to be talking to each other, hoping to be out of most people's sight: they mostly were as no one would pass through that area, but they had happened to be caught by Hibari either way since he was in the Reception room.

Whatever it was that the weakling was doing, it was fishy... and it was against the regulations too. Hibari narrowed his eyes: after figuring out just what exactly that herbivore was planning, he was definitely, without any doubt, going to bite him to death.

To his surprise, the baby he had spotted had suddenly started disappearing in black mist, no longer being in sight. The weakling had become surprised as well, but afterwards seemed to have sighed, as if used to it. His eyebrow had been raised again, being perfectly aware that it was impossible for any infant, or any person in general to simply disappear, leaving behind only mist. If so, what trick had that baby pulled off?

Needless to say Hibari was skeptic of what he had laid eyes on; that only made him want to bite that weakling to death more. Surely the boy who was talking to the baby would know what had happened, as he was most likely an accomplice of his. Seeing the weakling walk away from the area, most likely heading over to his own classroom, Hibari had decided:

He was going to get to the bottom of whatever plan had been set up by that herbivore, and bite him to death!

* * *

 **. . .**

* * *

"Ah, Hana!" Kyoko exclaimed cheerfully, having spotted her. "Good morning!" While Kyoko would usually arrive early, Hana would come to school slightly later, so she would wait at the school gates for her before heading to the classroom. Either way, none of them would ever be late to classes, so Kyoko found no problems with anything.

Hana smiled. "Good morning," she greeted, lazily waving at her. She was used to this, but she still appreciated the gesture; Kyoko could've just gone straight to the classroom if she wanted. After approaching Kyoko, Hana noticed something, making her smile turn to a curious expression. "You look like you're in high spirits; did something happen?"

Normally, no one would see anything out of the ordinary with Kyoko's demeanor, as she was still as joyfully innocent as always: however, Hana could tell. From the way Kyoko's eyes were glinting (more than usual), Hana just knew she was in a better mood than usual: she had known Kyoko for quite some time, after all. "Hmm?" At first, Kyoko was somewhat confused; even she did not really notice anything. As far as she was concerned, she was always in a fairly good mood. "Well, if anything, I guess I ran into Sawada-kun when I got here: he wasn't late this time."

"Him? Not late? I guess there's a first time for everything." Even Hana seemed surprised, having always seen him rush to his classroom. "But then again, he's been smarter lately, so I guess it has something to do with that? Looks like he's making an effort for once." Hana was not one to shun other people's efforts, so she thought it was a good thing that Tsuna had finally woken up from his loser nature and started actually doing something.

Despite that, she had no idea of whether he actually was diligent or not; she only assumed he wasn't. In reality, Tsuna did use to make an effort to get better grades, but not with very good results: that had made him give up in general, accepting his that he was only No-Good. Hana was not aware of that, however, having never gotten an interest to know about someone like Tsuna. "Isn't it great? I hope he keeps up; I wouldn't want him to repeat the year from his grades. Besides, maybe everyone will stop calling him names if he keeps this up!"

Being called names was the least of Tsuna's problems, but Kyoko was blissfully unaware of that fact: when classmates would leave on clean duty, Kyoko thought Tsuna had volunteered to do it for them; that was what they'd tell her when she'd ask, at least. What reasons could they have to lie? With that in mind, it was already a miracle that she knew of his reputation, which she didn't like hearing about: even if he had such bad grades and was that bad at sports, was that a reason to pick on him? Not at all, but her classmates would usually say they meant no ill will out of it, so Kyoko assumed that was probably the case even if 'No-Good Tsuna' was going too far, in her opinion. "Maybe; who knows?" Hana shrugged. "But wait, did you talk to him?"

"I did, for a while: I didn't want to keep him here though, so I told him he could go ahead to the classroom while I waited for you." While Kyoko thought that had been a good gesture, not wanting to trouble Tsuna, Hana could only sigh. After all, Tsuna obviously wouldn't have wanted to leave Kyoko's side when he had the chance to speak with her.

If anything, Hana was assuming Tsuna's effort was for Kyoko's sake: ever since that day with Mochida, he seemed slightly more serious in class, despite still having his wimpy demeanor; it was as if he was actually listening. Not that she wouldn't spot him dozing off afterwards, however... But she wasn't expecting much out of Tsuna either way. "Well, alright," Hana merely responded, deciding not to bother pointing out how Kyoko had probably broken Tsuna's heart by accident. "But, speaking of him, I've been hearing some nasty rumors."

She hadn't thought much of them at first, figuring it would be none of her or Kyoko's business but after speaking to Kyoko, who seemed to be in a better mood due to seeing Tsuna's effort, she had changed her mind. Tsuna was still not at all fit for someone like Kyoko, Hana reasoned, but at least it seemed like he was trying to improve himself, to become worthy of her: Hana could respect that... even if she still didn't want him with her. Whatever the case, Hana was not a complete monster, and she also didn't want to see Kyoko sadder due to some strange incident. "Remember Mochida-senpai? I hear he's still not over you; I think he's blaming everything on No-Good Tsuna."

"What?" Kyoko immediately shifted from a joyful expression to a worried one, hearing the name 'Mochida'. She had gotten along with him somewhat well at first, being in the same committee and everything, but after a while, he had changed somewhat. He would offer to walk her home and the like because, "It's dangerous for a girl like you to walk alone," or wrap his arm around her neck and invade her private space all of a sudden, or even exclaim questionable things such as, "You guys better not touch my girl!" She had taken that as a joke, of course; he even seemed jolly while saying it. As for everything else, Kyoko had just assumed he was that kind of person, so she simply went along with it; Hana seemed supportive of their friendship, at least. "Why would he think that?"

However, Kyoko had admittedly wanted some time to be with Hana, her best friend, instead of having to mostly be around that upperclassman (even when there wasn't work from her committee): he hadn't been too happy with those words when he heard them from her. "Who cares about her?!" he had told her, which made Kyoko immediately start feeling that maybe it wasn't a very good idea to befriend him. Even so, Hana was supportive, telling Kyoko that she shouldn't have even said anything in the first place; Kyoko was doubtful. "If you look back on it, No-Good Tsuna was the origin of you cutting ties with him: even if it was an accident, I'm sure he'd be mad at him."

It had been on that day that Mochida had asked to have lunch with her for the first time, lunch that she was going to have with Hana; Kyoko was hesitant. She did not want to be with someone who clearly did not care about Hana, even if Hana was, for some reason, supporting that: she had gotten sick of going along with him. "But, that isn't fair..." Kyoko muttered, "Sawada-kun didn't do anything wrong." If anything, it had been because of him that Kyoko had gotten away from Mochida, even if that had seemingly been an accident (as far as she was aware): otherwise, she would've seen no choice but to agree to have lunch with him. Afterwards, she had to clean with Hana and Tsuna, but she found that enjoyable: she had gotten to spend time with Hana, and even get to know Tsuna better which she didn't mind.

"As far as he's concerned, he did," Hana said, "and he's apparently out for revenge. I'm not sure what he's gonna pull, but I don't think No-Good Tsuna will be alright." It was the day after having to clean with Tsuna and Hana that Hana had told her that all of Mochida's actions had been because he liked her: she would have never guessed that; in her mind, he simply wanted to be her friend. It had never occurred to her mind that he liked her in such a way; needless to say the feeling wasn't mutual.

With all of that in mind, Kyoko did not appreciate the rumors she was hearing from Hana, those she hadn't picked up on in the slightest. "That's terrible...! I've got to do something," Kyoko said, her saddened expression making Hana give her a bitter frown.

"And what's that gonna be?" she asked, worried that Kyoko could get into trouble. Even so, it already hurt seeing her that affected, so she did want anything to happen to Tsuna either as she knew that would make her feel worse. "You're not just going in between something like that."

Kyoko looked towards the ground, realizing the truth in her words. "But, it's my fault this is happening, so... I've got to at least tell Mochida-senpai to stop. I wouldn't want Sawada-kun to get hurt because of me," Kyoko said, looking back up at Hana with the same saddened gaze, though they carried slightly more determination within them.

"Kyoko..." Hana muttered. _Should I have just kept quiet?_ She immediately knew that telling Kyoko had probably been for the best: otherwise, Kyoko would have gotten even more hurt from not having been able to do anything. "None of that was your fault, you hear me? You were the victim! There's no need to feel responsibility for that."

... Kyoko gave Hana a small smile. "Alright," she uttered, though she still wasn't fully convinced. "Even so, I'm going to do something."

As if on cue, the bell started ringing, signaling the start of school. "Shoot, we can't be late!" Hana exclaimed, agitated, "Not when even No-Good Tsuna's getting to school early! Let's go, Kyoko! We'll talk about this later, alright?"

Although surprised for a brief moment, Kyoko nodded. "Okay!" With that, they both started dashing towards the school building, focusing on their classes for the time being...

* * *

 **. . .**

* * *

Lunch break had arrived.

Tsuna was terrified. _What am I gonna do, what am I gonna do, what am I gonna do?!_ He glanced everywhere, as if even the floor his feet were touching while sitting at his own school desk was dangerous: as far as he was concerned, it was; he could trip on it. However, putting that aside, the danger he was on the prowl for did not come from his clumsiness, but from Mochida, the upperclassman he had spilled his lunch on.

He hadn't seen him yet, but that could've been because he was still going down the stairs to his floor. Tsuna considered leaving the classroom, but if he did so, there was the possibility that he would get caught in the act by Mochida, making it easier for him to drag Tsuna wherever he'd want since no one would truly care. Besides, Tsuna had no idea of a plausible escape route from Mochida and he wasn't just going to blindly run... only if he would get caught.

"T-Tsuna?" Tsuna snapped his head towards the voice that called him with a horrified expression, in turn making the classmate that had called him flinch, startled. "Are you alright?" he asked, looking nervous.

Tsuna found it strange that he wasn't getting called by his nickname, but he let that slide. "Y-yeah," he replied, being unable to fake it in the slightest. _I'm not alright at all...!_

"If you say so..." The classmate was not convinced, looking down at Tsuna with a frown. "Well, I need to talk to you. Could you... come with me? It's important, so I'd like to do it in private, and all that..."

Tsuna stared at him for a while, confused. "Huh? What's wrong?" he asked, finding that his classmate was fairly nervous; was it because his business with him truly was that important? Somehow, Tsuna had a feeling that wasn't it.

Tsuna noticed his classmate's hand shaking. "Just... Just come with me! Please...? I-I don't wanna talk about it here!" As Tsuna stared at him further, he found that the classmate's gaze seemed, in a way, lost, as if he was deep in thought, scrambling for something... But what was it that he was looking for? "So, come with me!"

It was at least completely obvious that the classmate wanted Tsuna to come with him: while saying that, he had no hesitation. "I don't know about that..." Tsuna said, having already decided he didn't want to leave the classroom in fear of something happening to him. "I'm sorry; could you leave it for tomorrow?"

For a while, Tsuna's classmate was speechless, holding his breath as if frozen in his spot. "N... No!" he exclaimed, seemingly outraged. "Just come with me already, No-Good Tsuna!" Tsuna's eyes widened as he was suddenly grabbed Tsuna by his arm and forcefully pulled him out of his seat.

 **"W-waaah!"** Tsuna shouted, making his classmate let go of him from how unexpected that had been. He fell to the floor, as if he had tripped over or something of the sort; at least he had covered his face with his arm. Beyond the overall pain, Tsuna seemed fine, having been used to falling like that: he had suffered worse, in fact.

He groaned in pain as he looked up at his classmate, who was glaring at him. "D-damn it...!" he muttered, looking to the side. With that, Tsuna had finally realized what had made his classmate so nervous: he was making up excuses to bring him somewhere; he was attempting to lie. _Why...?_

 _Wait...!_ Immediately, Mochida came to mind. _This was part of his plan?!_ It made sense, as the classmate was most likely lying to bring Tsuna to him. Meanwhile, some of the surrounding classmates laughed at him, having assumed his fall had been caused by himself instead of the nearby classmate. "Ow..." Tsuna uttered as he stood up, only to then give his classmate a horrified look. _There's no way I'm going with him now!_

Tsuna took a step back, unsure if running away was the best option: his classmate had an annoyed expression on his face, showing his true colors; he was displeased at Tsuna. Due to that, Tsuna doubted he was going to lie again, as it looked like he had no intentions to do so anymore: if so, what was he going to do? Was he going to drag Tsuna? If so, Tsuna could shout and cause a scene, which could stop his classmate. Either that, or he would run away before he could do so, though there was a risk of meeting Mochida. "Run," a familiar voice muttered, as if right by his side.

"H-huh?!" _Mammon...?!_ Processing that he had told him to run away, Tsuna decided to do exactly that, even though he did have his doubts. _I might as well...!_

"Hey!" Tsuna quickened his pace when he heard his classmate shout that out, already out of the classroom. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted two students dangerously near the door, seemingly shocked at seeing him run. _Are these guys with him too?!_

That made Tsuna even more motivated to get away from there as fast as possible, especially when he had seen those surprised expressions turn into glares in his direction. "Hold it right there, No-Good Tsuna!"

"Hiii!" Absolutely panicked at the fact that there were two, or maybe even three (if his classmate had also been doing that) people chasing him, Tsuna had decided to go to the floor below, as the upper one was for the upperclassmen.

Beyond that, the course he was taking was completely random, being too scared to properly think of an itinerary. For the time being, he just hoped it didn't make him reach Mochida and that Mammon had been right. _Hiiiii, they're closing in on me!_ It was only natural for something like that to happen: after all, Tsuna's speed was not very hard to overcome.

He was also starting to get tired from running, noticing he was heading outside the school building. His stamina had not been the best, but Tsuna's survival instincts probably had that somewhat covered, at least enough to get to a safe area. _This is not good, not good at all!_ Finding himself outside, he turned to the left, only to notice his pursuers slowing their pace down: had they been tired as well? Assuming that, Tsuna kept running, hoping he would be able to lose them.

Meanwhile, Mammon was keeping up with Tsuna, a smirk on his face. _All according to plan..._ While running was troublesome, he couldn't float for a long amount of time either, at least not without Fantasma supporting him: releasing his powers was definitely out of the question, even if the Ninth, being the sneaky old man he was, already knew he was an Arcobaleno; he was not about to reveal his identity to anyone else.

Tsuna stopped in his tracks abruptly, having taken in the sight Mammon expected him to see: Mochida, right in front of him. "What...?!" However, that was not the main reason Tsuna was so shocked. Mammon frowned.

Kyoko and Hana were with Mochida, talking to him with frowns of different connotations. That hadn't been part of the plan; Mammon wasn't expecting anyone else to be there. It had to have been the rumors, Mammon figured: while he had been the one to spread them, that had only been for Tsuna as he thought he would notice. However, since he hadn't been able to do so at all, Mammon actually had to tell him straight up, leaving the rumors he spread without any purpose beyond bringing up unexpected changes to his plans. "Ah, Sawada-kun!" Kyoko, noticing him, called out, a worried expression on her face. "Stay back! I'm talking to him right now, so you don't need to do anything."

Mochida looked troubled, having no idea how to respond to Tsuna's arrival while Kyoko was there: if she hadn't, he would've laughed at Tsuna for how naive he was. Now, Mochida was grimacing at Tsuna, glaring daggers at him; Tsuna gulped. _Why is Kyoko-chan here? Why is Mochida-senpai here?! What am I supposed to do?!_ he thought, assessing his priorities. "K-Kyoko-chan, what are you...?"

Tsuna couldn't even manage to ask the full question, afraid of the glares he was receiving from Mochida and the people that had been chasing him, who were also not doing anything due to Kyoko's presence. "She's saving you, that's what she's doing!" Hana responded with a troubled frown directed at Tsuna. "What are you doing here anyway?!" She then noticed the three students behind Tsuna. "Them, huh?" Hana shifted her focus to them, her hands on her hips. "Whatever you were planning on doing, it's being called off right now so scram!"

Her sharp gaze was intimidating, making the three students that were chasing Tsuna falter somewhat; they kept their position anyway. They had their eyes on Kyoko and Mochida, most likely waiting for a verdict from them. As Kyoko turned to Mochida, he avoided her gaze, chuckling nervously. "Come on, Kyoko-chan, i-it was just joke! Nothing serious!" He took what seemed to be a lunch box and picked it up, holding it to Kyoko's line of sight. "S-see? We were just going to have a little food fight... of sorts! Right, guys?"

The three students behind Tsuna nodded immediately, though they were visibly nervous. _What was he planning to do...?_ Tsuna questioned in his mind, staring blankly at the lunch box. _W-was he going to throw that at me?! That would've been terrible!_ Even if he had done something similar to Mochida, it was accidental: he didn't even want to bump into him at all, his plan having only been to interrupt the conversation by speaking up (since they were blocking the door, or so went the excuse). "Don't try to fool her, you monkey! You were totally planning on having your revenge on No-Good Tsuna!" Hana argued, glaring at Mochida.

 _Monkey...?_ Tsuna decided not to think about that any further as he knew he wasn't going to find out why she would use that insult. Mochida frowned, aware that he had clearly lost his argument; Kyoko was gazing at him with a saddened expression. "S-so what if I was? It's completely justified! You were there, you saw what he did to me! Wouldn't you want to do the same?!"

"But that was an accident," Kyoko said, "Sawada-kun did nothing wrong; you shouldn't bully him!" _Ah, Kyoko-chan is defending me...!_ Tsuna almost felt like breaking down in tears, though he wasn't sure whether they would be tears of sadness or happiness. He found it amazing that he was being defended by Kyoko, but he also found it terrible because that meant he was troubling her, in a way.

Due to that, Tsuna considered saying something, something that would make her not have to worry about him: to his dismay, he was not finding any words in his mind for that. "Damn it...!" Mochida muttered, also being at a loss for words. He had failed, and failed hard: somehow, his actions had ended up in rumors, rumors that Hana had heard; it had been her fault Kyoko was in front of him. He gave her a dark glare, seeing as he was in no way interested in her: if it hadn't been for her, he could've at least gotten everything straight, he could've recovered some of his pride! "You...!"

It was too late: Kyoko wasn't his, he hadn't gotten his revenge, and he was looking pathetic in front of other members of his club. "H-hey, what's your problem?" Hana countered, somewhat startled. "Are you gonna stop or not?" She had noticed his gaze, and was afraid he'd do something to her, or even Kyoko.

Mochida crossed his arms, merely frowning in disdain. "Hmph, w-whatever! I don't need to waste my time on that wimpy underclassman!" He turned to Kyoko. "If that's what you're into, then you're not worthy of me; better women await me!" He chuckled loudly, seemingly assertive with his words: somehow, Tsuna could tell he wasn't really serious about them, and that it was merely to hide how he truly felt about the situation.

Hana grimaced, disgusted at what she had just heard, while Kyoko's eyes widened, instead being surprised at his words. "What the hell—"

"After this, I won't bother talking with you anymore," Mochida cut Hana off, not wanting to hear anything more from her, "Guys, we're going now!" With that, Mochida immediately started running off to them, making Tsuna step away, gazing at him blankly due to his ridiculous words.

The three students that were part of Mochida's club were also somewhat surprised, as they had even taken time processing that Mochida had approached them. Mammon, who had been standing on the school's fencing while looking like a bird, was fairly satisfied with the results of those girls' interference, but there was something on his mind. _I guess he will be unnecessary now... Hm, things might get troublesome._

If anything, he might have made everything worse: he wasn't aware that the girls would care about Tsuna enough to defend him and stop the boy's plans. Due to that, he had decided to take matters to his own hands, not at all wanting Tsuna to face such problems when he was that weak and trying to improve his reputation; it would delay progress.

"You all..."

 _Looks like he did come,_ Mammon thought, a frown on his face as he laid eyes on Kyoya Hibari.

Everyone froze. "Hi-Hibari-san...?!" Tsuna exclaimed, scared for his life yet amazingly confused at the same time. _What is_ he _doing here?!_

Hibari narrowed his eyes at Tsuna, making him flinch. "Why are you crowding?" Hibari asked, "Are you all up to something? You're suspicious, awfully so..." Needless to say he was not in a good mood. He had reminded himself of the baby he saw, and noticed that he was not with the crowd he was observing.

However, the weakling from before was right there: his expression almost seemed to indicate he wanted to be bitten to death, and Hibari was certainly up for it. Even so, he had to know what he was planning, so he was being remarkably merciful for the time being. "U-up to something?" Mochida spoke up, "With them? N-n-not at all! I-in fact, we were just about to— **Gwaah!"** Before he could even finish his sentence, Mochida had been knocked out by a sudden tonfa to his stomach, the force of the blow having been that great.

The three students close by whimpered... so did Tsuna. "If so, you four are just crowding." Hibari directed his gaze to the three students that were with Mochida, making them look absolutely horrified. "So be quiet and get out of my sight; I can't stand people who crowd." They immediately complied and ran away from the area, screaming for dear life. "Hmph..." Hibari had (amazingly) spared them one dark glance, annoyed with the noise they made as they left; he considered biting them to death later. "And now, you three are left: what were you up to?"

Hibari had been aware that Mochida's group had nothing to do with Tsuna, having noticed how it was so separated from him: they were surely against him about something, but Hibari did not care to know what it happened to be. "I was talking to him," Kyoko of all people spoke up, making both Tsuna and Hana widen their eyes at her, "He... wanted to bully him, so I made him stop." She was staring at Mochida with a saddened expression, finding it somewhat (only somewhat, somehow) scary that he had been knocked out relentlessly by Hibari.

Even so, if she were to tell him the complete truth, he would understand and let them go, Kyoko innocently figured. Hibari focused on her: he knew her; she was Ryohei Sasagawa's sister. He only happened to know her due to past events related to Ryohei Sasagawa, as she had approached him to help with his boxing match under the condition that he would never be asked to join the Boxing Club ever again (or, as he understood it, he would never be pestered by him ever again). "Is that so?" Kyoko nodded, managing to smile at him in the process. "What about the baby?"

Tsuna flinched. _The what?!_ "Hmm? There was no baby," Kyoko responded, seemingly confused, "Why do you ask?" It was amazing that she could converse with Hibari without much fear, but Tsuna had something else entirely in his mind. _Don't tell me he's talking about Mammon, it can't be...!_

Being able to tell Kyoko was being completely honest, Hibari only narrowed his eyes. "I see," he said, glancing at Tsuna. "That means you two are also just crowding." Hana flinched, knowing he was referring to Kyoko and her. He had figured out that the baby and whatever had happened to Tsuna was unrelated: there were no other accomplices, Hibari noted. "If you don't get out right now, I'll bite you to death."

Admittedly scared, Kyoko and Hana immediately started walking out at a fast pace, not wanting to face that fate. However, Kyoko glanced at Tsuna worriedly, finding that he was the only one remaining for some reason. _What do I do, what do I do...?!_ Tsuna thought, staring at Hibari with an alarmed expression.

He was petrified on the spot, knowing that Hibari would be too fast to outrun; he was doomed. "Now, you're the only one here," Hibari stated, completely focused on him, "I honestly don't care about you getting bullied or whatever; I came for other reasons." _Even though you're from the Disciplinary Committee...!_ "You should already know what they are."

Tsuna gulped. "W-what...?" he questioned despite having a hunch on what Hibari was after.

"Where is the baby, and what are you planning?" Hibari immediately got straight to the point, making Tsuna flinch. _He's really referring to Mammon...!_ After all, there was no other baby that followed him around but Mammon, who was probably nearby.

Mammon watched as Hibari had instilled fear on everyone: he was considered that strong, Mammon noted; definitely someone Tsuna was better off not messing with. However, it was too late: Mammon had noticed him looking over them in the morning, which was why he knew he was coming for Tsuna in the first place. Originally, Mammon simply wanted him to come, get rid of Mochida and the others and, while he would do it, have Tsuna escape for the time being. "T-the baby?" Tsuna answered with a question, having no idea if telling Hibari about Mammon would be a good idea.

"If you're going to play dumb, I'll just bite you to death," Hibari immediately asserted, making Tsuna whimper in fear.

 _There's no use hiding it then!_ Perhaps, if he were to be honest to Hibari like Kyoko was, everything would solve itself... Somehow, Tsuna couldn't be that positive. "The, the baby is—"

"Right here." To his surprise, Mammon's voice cut Tsuna off, only for his tiny form to suddenly appear behind Hibari; he immediately turned around. "You were looking for me, weren't you? Well, here I am." He glared at her, having not noticed Mammon at all before.

Meanwhile, Tsuna had a panicked expression on his face. "M-Mammon, what are you doing here...?!" He had told Mammon about how much he did not want him to be found out by anyone, and it ended up happening with the most dangerous person the school, if not in the whole town. Needless to say things weren't looking good for Tsuna, who would most likely suffer a terrible fate to Hibari's threatening weapons; Mammon did not seem as panicked.

"Taking care of your problems," Mammon answered, a frown on his face, "which means you'll owe me; keep that in mind." _Owe you what...?!_ Tsuna raised an eyebrow at Mammon, skeptic at his words.

Unfortunately, with Hibari at such a proximity from Tsuna, he immediately re-focused on him, afraid of what would happen to Mammon as he had decided to get his attention. "Hmmm..." he hummed curiously. "I didn't think you'd show up so easily, but now that you have, I'll ask you: what are you and that herbivore planning?" Mammon's presence was suspicious, Hibari noted, but he went along with it anyway: he was still certain that Tsuna was there, so he could bite him to death instead if something were to truly happen.

"Nothing in particular; I'm just watching over him." While it was already amazing that Mammon was being honest, he still hadn't told the complete truth, leaving out the fact that he was Tsuna's home tutor (among other things). "So, it'd be nice if you left us alone." Hibari was strong, Mammon could tell at least that.

However, Mammon was not afraid of him: he just didn't want to deal with someone like Hibari in general, especially if he were to get in his way. "Watching over him? That clearly goes against the school regulations," Hibari argued, narrowing his eyes at Mammon. He knew he was suspicious... and Hibari didn't like it. "People who break the rules must be bitten to death...!"

"Aaaah, Mammon, watch out!" Tsuna shouted as he saw Hibari charge with his tonfas in both hands, fearing for Mammon's life; he did not imagine Hibari losing against an infant. Hibari's speeds were great, unlike Tsuna's, so in mere seconds he was already dangerously close to Mammon. _No way..._ Tsuna thought, somewhat helpless: was he to watch Mammon getting bitten to death? **"S-stop!"**

As Tsuna's panicked voice echoed in the area just before Hibari's right tonfa could even touch Mammon, he realized the mistake he had committed. Hibari turned to Tsuna, looking somewhat annoyed as he locked eyes with him; Tsuna couldn't have been more horrified. _I... I just told Hibari-san to stop. I'm doomed...!_ Tsuna's expression only indicated fear, his face pale. At that, Hibari smirked. "Make me," he said, as if taunting Tsuna for just how powerless he was.

 _What is he doing?_ Mammon thought, clearly displeased with Tsuna's actions. Tsuna could not notice that, as half of Mammon's face was covered by his hood; he was unable to discern much of Mammon's emotions. _Does he plan on making everything worse?_ Hibari turned to Mammon, keeping the same smirk as he raised his tonfa yet again, ready to attack.

Tsuna could not bear to watch what would happen to Mammon. He looked behind him, only to spot some things lying on the ground: lunch boxes; meant for him, he noted. Out of Tsuna's sight, Mammon merely kept his position, prepared for the incoming hit from Hibari: Hibari, being in the middle of biting someone to death, did not even bother questioning that.

... Before Tsuna knew it, he had a lunch box in his hand. _J-just for distraction,_ Tsuna asserted in his mind, _Then I'll run away with Mammon...!_ Despite that, he didn't seem very confident in his plan. Whatever the case, Tsuna aimed for the area next to Mammon and Hibari, not actually wanting to hit him. Letting the lunch box go from the propulsion his arm had created, Tsuna watched it with a nervous expression as its trajectory was slightly off from what he had planned.

It was so off in fact, that the lunch box was heading in Hibari's direction... Tsuna realized that leaving distractions to his No-Good precision had not been a good idea, especially when he heard a fairly loud noise of the lunch box colliding with something. Opening itself from the impact, the lunch box released all its contents to the outside or, to be precise, onto what it had hit.

... And, much to Tsuna's absolute horror, what the lunch box had hit was Hibari's head.

Tsuna screamed. Even Mammon was somewhat surprised at the turn of events he had just witnessed.

Needless to say Hibari immediately stopped what he was about to do. Even he was surprised. Everyone was surprised, though Tsuna might have been much more than that.

Still recovering from the blow to his head, Hibari wobbled slightly when he attempted to move, intending to turn around but failing due to the lack of balance he was suffering from. In fact, Hibari had still been processing that he was, indeed, covered in food and had been hit in the head by a flying object, which had been the lunch box on the ground.

... Mammon, seeing Tsuna paralyzed from his own actions, spoke up, "Run!" If Tsuna had created time for them to escape, which had been completely unnecessary, Mammon was not planning on wasting it; he had no choice anyway. Mammon, having not been right in front of Hibari the whole time, made that illusion disappear as he saw Tsuna snap out of his shock from his words.

"Y-yeah!" he immediately shouted as he dashed in the opposite direction Hibari was at, tears practically ready to fall from his face out of just how scared he was. At least, he hadn't been at a dead end: there weren't such places at his school, though the area he was on was not frequently traversed by students. With that in mind, he had an escape route in case of emergencies, but he thought he would've never been able to use it due to Hibari's speed.

Now that Tsuna had somehow been able to immobilize him somewhat, however, Tsuna figured he was better off running for his life. For a brief second, Tsuna glanced back at Hibari, feeling sorry for what he had done to him: even if he was going to bite him and Mammon to death, (almost) giving someone a concussion was not something he would ever want to do to him. If anything, Tsuna would not wish to do such a thing to anyone; he did not want to hurt people.

... Having caught a glimpse of the dark, dark glare directed at him from Hibari, Tsuna quickened his pace. _**"HIIIIIII...!"**_ Hibari had already turned to his direction, and had seemed just about ready to skin him alive: Tsuna could not have been more scared. _Why, why did I have to do that...?! Now Hibari-san is going to kill me...!_

Then, Tsuna heard the sound of the bell, marking the end of lunch break. Tsuna hadn't eaten anything, and nothing good had happened to him during that time.

However, he had never been so happy for classes.

With a hopeful gaze, Tsuna got inside the school building, which was nearby. _I'm safe...!_ Tsuna cheered in his mind, taking a break to rest from all the running he had done: Tsuna's legs hurt and if there were any bed placed inside the school, he would have most likely lied on it out of instinct.

Afterwards, realizing that being late for classes wouldn't be so good for him, Tsuna immediately started walking, still relieved that he had gotten away from the fearsome Kyoya Hibari... for now.

* * *

 **. . .**

* * *

Tsuna groaned loudly as he rested on his bed, still feeling the pain in his legs... and the fear of encountering Kyoya Hibari again. "What do I do...?" he mumbled, his expression indicated how hopeless he thought the situation was.

Miraculously, he had not encountered Hibari after school, but he knew that tomorrow was going to be different, very much so. He saw the glare Hibari was giving him: it practically told him just how much Hibari wanted to bite him to death. "Don't ask me: you brought it upon yourself, after all," Mammon said, somewhat annoyed at Tsuna's whining, "If you hadn't done anything stupid, this wouldn't have happened."

Tsuna stood from his bed and snapped his head towards Mammon. "B-but I couldn't just stand there when Hibari-san was about to hurt you like that...!" Tsuna defended, his eyebrows furrowed. While he didn't particularly like Mammon, Tsuna did not want to see him suffer: he happened to hold no grudge against him despite his actions, as strange as that would've have been in some other person's perspective. Besides, if it had been someone else, he would have surely done the same, Tsuna figured.

"You thought I was going to get myself hurt? What a joke," Mammon scoffed, "That was only an illusion: I wouldn't have just showed myself for no reason; I was going to distract him." Despite having already done those arguments, what bothered Mammon the most were the implications of Tsuna's words, as if Tsuna actually cared about Mammon's well-being; that was repulsive in every way. "Even if it that had been the reality, you didn't need to help me: the last thing I want is your sympathy."

It wasn't like Mammon was at Tsuna's level, after all: he was strong, unlike him. Tsuna frowned, clearly affected by Mammon's words: he knew that Mammon had been completely serious, and that simply surprised him. Was wanting to look out for someone such a bad thing? "You don't have to be that cold..." he muttered, "I didn't know about that."

"That doesn't matter; you shouldn't have helped me anyway. Those kinds of decisions are what gets you killed," Mammon bluntly responded, "Even if I did happen to be in danger, you should've just run away to save yourself: what did you think I was distracting him for?" It wasn't like Mammon was going to die, but it was a similar situation and that was what he wanted to point out.

Tsuna seemed even more surprised; if anything, he had an incredulous expression on his face. "No way!" he shouted loudly, making Mammon turn to him immediately. Before, he had just been gazing at the window of Tsuna's bedroom, somewhat bored. Now that Tsuna had said that so loudly, Mammon was wondering what exactly had ticked him off for him to show such emotion: it was almost as if he had no hesitation. "There's no way I'd ever leave someone behind like that, especially if they were in danger! That's just terrible, I wouldn't want anyone to sacrifice themselves for someone like me!"

"So you'd rather die along with them? Don't be naive." Mammon grew even more annoyed at the fact that all of his conviction amounted to idealistic claims: it truly showed Mammon why Tsuna was No-Good.

No could survive by being so naive and overly noble; Mammon knew that well. "I..." Tsuna paused, as if to search for words to use, wanting to let out his thoughts in the clearest manner possible. "I'd rather have everyone alive, and find a different way!" He locked his somewhat determined gaze on Mammon, who had also been staring at him with quite the frown.

However, Mammon could tell: he wasn't joking; he meant his words. His eyes truly showed how, no matter what, Tsuna would try to find another way, whatever it happened to be; they were hopeful like that. Really, it was an amazing display of kindness, and overall conviction. To Mammon, it was...

 **. . .**

"... Pathetic." Tsuna's eyes widened. "If there were a better way, no one would sacrifice themselves for you in the first place; you can't even understand that," Mammon said in bitter tone, "You're really pathetic. Do try to use your stupid, naive logic in a dangerous situation though, and see how fast both you and the people around you would die: this is why you're nowhere near a worthy candidate for the position of Tenth Vongola Boss." Mammon stood up from his seat by Tsuna's table. _This is why that old man should just drop dead,_ Mammon thought, finding that if he weren't around, he wouldn't have had to deal with Tsuna at all: Xanxus would have taken his place.

He started walking away, not even sparing Tsuna a glance. "I already said I didn't want to become a mafia boss!" Tsuna protested, finding that to be the only thing he could say to Mammon: he had no other arguments to counter his statements. Due to that, he could only watch Mammon as he left the room, his destination unknown to Tsuna.

"Go do your homework already; you can't just slack off either." That was the last thing Mammon had said before being out of Tsuna's sight, leaving him to stare at the door, surprised. If anything, those words hadn't even entered Tsuna's ears.

Instead, he was considering other things: Mammon had said people wouldn't sacrifice themselves if there happened to be a better way. That... seemed to make perfect sense, but it was still wrong, in his mind: he still didn't want that to happen; he wouldn't want anyone to die. But, if someone like him, who had no strength, were put in that situation, would he had been able to find another way to make sure everyone would live? Because people apparently had to sacrifice themselves for him, the responsibility was his.

He didn't want that responsibility, if it involved such pressuring decisions: he wouldn't want to face someone having to be killed because of him, because he had been able to find no alternatives for that outcome... But, if he had no choice, he would make sure that would never happen. While Mammon's words made sense, it still didn't mean that he had to give up: if anything, that meant he had to be extra careful.

Tsuna focused his gaze on his homework, having already come to a conclusion.

 **. . .**

He got out of his bed, sat down by his table and took out a pen. _Why was I even thinking of life and death situations anyway...? It's not like I'll go through them or something like that!_

... Tsuna reminded himself of the fact that he was technically involved with the mafia and whined, "I don't wanna be a mafia boss...!" With that, he threw the pen at the table in a mix of depression and frustration. _Damn it...!_

* * *

 **Author's Notes:**

* * *

A lot of things happened in this chapter, mostly because I wanted to set everything up: as you can see, Tsuna is getting along with Kyoko, and Hibari is going to freaking kill him the next time he sees him. Look forward to that? Whatever the case, you've probably noticed how Hibari is totally gonna be the Cloud Guardian: that much won't change, since he wasn't called by Reborn.

Meanwhile, I used a trillion headcanons for the Mochida situation: since I already established in the story that Mochida was not a recurring bully of Tsuna's and that he simply liked Kyoko, I basically thought that Kyoko would've been getting along with him until Mochida decided to be more open about how he felt. However, Kyoko, being as clueless as she was, didn't notice anything and thought he just wanted to be her friend. Since they were hanging out a whole lot, she told him she also wanted to hang out with Hana, making him lash out at her: that's when she noticed this was a bad idea but didn't do anything because Hana was supporting their relationship.

At the time of episode 1, she didn't feel that way: this is what would've started if Tsuna hadn't done anything by the time of episode 1; at that stage, Kyoko was somewhat getting along with him. But yeah, he solved Kyoko's problem, so she's grateful for him and wants to support his efforts to be a better student ^^ I don't know if a lot of people will be against this kind of portrayal of Kyoko, since a lot of people don't seem to like her: however, I happen to like her a lot and believe she would act that way in this situation: Kyoko is too kindhearted not to care about others.

Mochida doesn't show up a lot, so I basically speculated from the first episode that he was arrogant, proud, had no qualms about using underhanded tactics and treats women kind of, uh, differently: it's at least described in the wiki that he had a chauvinistic attitude towards women. Either way, I had fun writing Mochida breaking down from having his plans totally ruined ("Better women await me!" tho XDDD): he took days to come up with that revenge, and it was such a good plan too! He would've been able to block all escape routes, have people to hold Tsuna in place, and be in an area where he wouldn't get caught: it would've been flawless if not for Mammon spreading rumors and attracting Hibari.

Honestly, I was even planning on putting Ryohei in this chapter, but that would've been overkill so I didn't do it: instead, Kyoko and Hana solve the issue through their words, and Hibari bites Mochida to death, just like he deserved ^^ Well, honestly, he didn't deserve that big of a punishment, but hey, tough luck, right? Speaking of Hibari though, omg, what have I done to him, I made Tsuna throw a _**LUNCH BOX**_ at the guy's head XDD I seriously died laughing while I wrote that, especially because of just how fucked everyone knew Tsuna would be after doing that.

I mean, come on, one does not simply get away with almost giving Hibari a concussion and covering him with food: Tsuna is no different. Surely, by the next day, Tsuna will die XD Though, there's been way too much lunch-throwing involved in this story, it's kind of strange 0.0 But don't worry, no more lunch boxes will be thrown about from here on out! Seriously, that was all Mochida's fault since he wanted revenge anyway. Oh, and before you complain about Hibari being too OP to get hit with a lunch box, Tsuna hit him with a slipper in the actual show, so take that!

Beyond that awesome moment, Mammon and Tsuna had quite the serious discussion: Mammon really makes this supposedly silly story more serious than it should have been ^^' However, I think this is a necessary step to not only develop Tsuna's character, but to develop Tsuna's relationship with Mammon as well. So yeah, serious moments are a thing here; deal with them. Whatever the case, look forward to the next chapter?


	7. Target 5,5

**First Words:**

* * *

As if the behemoth that is Target 5 wasn't enough already, you now have a bonus chapter thingy! Yay! For those that immediately skip to the latest chapter, yeah, there was an actual chapter before this little one so you gotta read that first ^^' Paranoia aside, I'll most likely have occasional extra chapters like these, but they probably won't be that common. Also, I know this goes against how the anime works but hey, there were extra thingies in the manga so, uh, this is totally justified. Totally.

Anyway, enjoy!

* * *

 **Target 5.5: Repaying Debts  
**

* * *

Finally, Tsuna had finished his homework. After his argument with Mammon, he thought he would never return, but he did do so... only to provide him with no help whatsoever, which he should have seen coming. He also left right when night came, most likely to sleep: that made Tsuna be alone for quite a few hours.

Tired, Tsuna yawned as he packed everything in his school bag. "Huh...?" he uttered as he noticed something strange despite his sleepy state: his wallet had been inside, but not where he would usually put it. It was in plain view, as if to show off how someone had indeed moved it. Tsuna wondered if it had been him who did that without thinking, most likely due to how drowsy he was.

... He decided not to risk it and opened his wallet. _**"HUH?!"**_ To his horror, it was completely empty of any of the money he used to have.

Instead, there was a small paper within his wallet, one that hadn't been there before. In shock, with trembling hands, Tsuna took that paper, unfolded it and read what was on it:

'I'll consider this enough to make us even. Be grateful.'

Below, the note had been signed with the name 'Mammon'.

 _"... Which means you'll owe me; keep that in mind..."_

At the time, Tsuna had thought, _Owe you what?!_ However, now that he had read that note and found that all his money had disappeared, all dots connected in his mind.

That's _what he was talking about...?!_

... Tsuna immediately ran out of his room to search for Mammon.

* * *

 **Author's Notes:**

* * *

And so, Tsuna got robbed— I mean, got out of his debt to Mammon, of course! XD Whatever the case, Tsuna now has no money. While the show had no extra episodes, there were extra thingies in the manga so, uh... take that!

If I wanna write bonus chapters, I freaking will, damn you! ;_; Look forward to the next target?


	8. Target 6

**First Words:**

* * *

Since the last target, this story got 8 favorites and 9 followers, which is still freaking awesome! Thank you! I noticed I counted how many reviews I had in the initial targets, but I don't think I need to do that when I already thank the people reviewing when responding to them and, well, anyone can see how many reviews there are; I don't erase reviews (except if it's spam or something, but that never happened to me).

Anyway, a lot of stuff happens in this target, so I loved writing it; I'm not sure of what you'll think of it though. Hopefully you'll also like it...? Since this is totally different from canon, equally different events are to be expected. Also, this target kind of makes it clear that the other chapters were during and after KHR's episode 1, since it's set in episode 2 (in terms of timeline); fun, right?

Whatever the case, enjoy!

* * *

 **Target 6: Participating in a Volleyball Tournament?! The Perfect Plan**

* * *

"Wake up," Mammon ordered, a troubled frown on his face. Nana had requested him to wake Tsuna up for her, but he, naturally, did not want to do such a thing. While he could have refused, he figured it was a better idea to have Tsuna not being late than doing nothing: that seemed to bring about a better impression on the students of his class, after all.

Besides, in that time, Tsuna could figure out a way to escape Kyoya Hibari, who would most likely kill him slowly and painfully... which Mammon would have supported if not for the fact that letting such a thing happen would reflect on his performance as Tsuna's tutor, and he did not want anyone to suspect of a Varia conspiracy. Tsuna groaned and stirred from Mammon's voice, but his eyes did not open; he was still asleep.

Mammon sighed. "Good grief..." _I'd demand a fee for this if I didn't agree otherwise,_ he thought, cursing the fact that he had no choice on the matter. Unfortunately, he could not demand any money from Nana Sawada and that fact would surely drive him insane in the future: he could not simply... do things without any payment, or at least something troublesome or unnecessary.

Mammon made himself look like Kyoko Sasagawa, Tsuna's (obvious) crush. "Sawada-kun!"

Tsuna immediately jumped from his bed, his eyes wide in shock. **"K-K-K-Kyoko-chan?!"** He snapped his head to Mammon's direction, seeing his frown reflected in his illusion of Kyoko.

"As if," he said before letting that illusion dissolve... "Now get ready to go to school and be quick about it." With that, Mammon started walking out of the room, preferably not wanting to see Tsuna changing clothes and the like.

Even so, he had nothing to do beyond stalking Tsuna afterwards, which was admittedly pathetic in his mind. Besides, he didn't want to always be around someone like Tsuna. _I guess I should collect more information,_ Mammon decided in his mind before setting off, putting an illusion of how he looked like as Tsuna's home tutor in his place as he did so.

* * *

 **. . .**

* * *

Tsuna was not in a good mood.

In fact, he was absolutely scared; he did not want to go to school. However, having Mammon around made his mother less tolerant of him skipping school, so he had no choice but to move onward... to his death.

 _Hibari-san will get me...!_ Just thinking about it scared him.

He hadn't even hurt Hibari on purpose: he had merely intended to distract him, which was already dangerous to begin with. _And in the end, that Mammon was just an illusion..._ Tsuna frowned, reminding himself of his argument with Mammon.

He had already gotten to a conclusion from it, but it certainly had not been what Mammon had told him: unlike Mammon, Tsuna could not just have others sacrificing themselves for him. Despite that, it was true that, in most cases, one would go through such lengths if there was no choice.

That only meant that Tsuna had to make sure there was a choice... not that there would be others even willing to sacrifice themselves for Tsuna in the first place. He knew he had no friends, and Mammon seemed to hate him for some reason: if anything, there was no need for Tsuna to mull over such issues since he had no one that would ever put their lives above his. Besides, the idea of his life having more worth than others' was already somewhat ridiculous to Tsuna: he was no one special; he was No-Good Tsuna.

... And No-Good Tsuna happened to supposedly be the next boss of the Vongola, a mafia family. "Ugh..." Tsuna could not have felt more depressed from reminding himself of that. The only thing that tied Mammon to him was the fact that he was supposed to be tutored by him to become the Tenth Boss, and he definitely did not want it to be that way. _Of all things, why do I have to be part of the mafia...?! I don't wanna!_

"You look scared... not that it surprises me." Tsuna turned to the side from the familiar blunt remark.

To his surprise, Mammon had been walking at the top of a fence, as if he had been there all along. When he had left the house, Mammon hadn't followed him at all, so he thought he was going to school alone; that did not seem to be the case. "M-Mammon...!"

Ignoring Tsuna's shock, Mammon simply continued what he had intended to say, "With that boy after you, you'll probably end up in the hospital; you wouldn't even stand a chance." Mammon had been able to see it from his movements: Kyoya Hibari was no normal middle school student.

He was fast, and his strikes held far too much strength for someone with no talent or experience: he had only let his guard down because he thought Tsuna was not going to do anything to him; arrogance was his downfall. Mammon hadn't expected Tsuna's actions either, as much as he wouldn't have wanted to admit that, but that was mostly because he did not think Tsuna was that stupid.

Enticing the wrath of someone clearly strong was truly a foolish move, especially if it held no benefits. "Hiii, don't remind me of that!" Tsuna exclaimed, looking even more disturbed. "Aaah, what am I supposed to do...?!" As he thought of it, Tsuna had thrown that at Hibari because he thought Mammon was going to get hurt; that annoyed Mammon further. He was aware that he would do that for just about anyone who he didn't hate, and that it was merely because of his noble, kind-hearted nature... which was the part that disgusted Mammon the most: it simply indicated how naive and unfit for the position of Vongola Boss he was.

Beyond that, it reminded him of some rather unpleasant people with the same sort of soft ideals or preachy nature: they were not superior to Mammon, but they sure loved acting like it; absolutely annoying. Even so, Mammon had to be around Tsuna, which was something he had already accepted. Meanwhile, Tsuna was still in complete denial about becoming the next boss of the Vongola, and was getting himself in trouble over his ideals. "Well, luckily for you, I found a way to make you avoid that fate."

As much as Mammon hadn't wanted to bother, he had come up with a plan: he could not just have Tsuna getting to the hospital, after all. It annoyed him, but Mammon had to actually do his job as he had not only been paid for it, but also had to make sure the Varia wouldn't be suspected: otherwise, he would die. So, while Mammon had wanted Tsuna to deal with his own problems, he knew he was not strong enough to do so, finding himself with no choice but to help him out. "Y-you did...?!" Tsuna asked incredulously, his eyes full of hope.

"Of course: it'd be troublesome if you got sent to the hospital, after all." _Just because it's troublesome..._ Tsuna thought, knowing Mammon did not worry for him in the slightest. He had expected that, seeing as he would always insult him and all around seemed to truly hate him for some reason, but it was still ridiculous for Mammon to say that out loud.

Usually, people weren't so blunt, especially if they were supposed to work with others. Tsuna reminded himself of yesterday night and gave Mammon a skeptic look. "Free of charge, right...?" he asked, not wanting to risk anything.

"Unfortunately so," Mammon responded, his frown bitter. He had been paid to tutor Tsuna, not to clean up his messes... However, that had been expected of him since he had to prove his trust to the Ninth: he was not going to leave Tsuna to get into terrible situations, especially when they could be pinned as his fault instead.

Tsuna's expression brightened, hope showing again in his eyes. _I'm saved...!_ "Well, t-tell me then!" he said with a small smile, feeling relieved already.

"Hmph, don't rush me," Mammon countered, though he wasn't particularly annoyed. "Anyway, did you know there was a volleyball tournament today?"

At that question, Tsuna glanced at Mammon confusedly. "Uh... Yeah," he ended up answering, but not in the most assertive of ways. "But what does that have to do with anything?" _Is he trying to avoid the subject...?_

Tsuna couldn't help but find himself skeptical of Mammon's response, especially when he could not completely rely on him. "It has something to do with how you're going to escape that boy, for one," Mammon said, aware that Tsuna was doubtful, "You're going to participate."

"Huh?!" Tsuna immediately blurted out, having even stopped walking. "Why— How?! I'm not even one of the first substitutes...!" _Besides, how will that make me avoid Hibari-san?!_

Surely Hibari would have him killed before the tournament could even start, and he wasn't just going to expose himself completely by participating in such a thing. "Well, now you'll be playing for sure; unless you want to get hospitalized, that is..."

"A-anything but that!" Tsuna shouted right away, noticing the smirk on Mammon's face which indicated how much Mammon was serious about his words; it was as if he would have looked forward to see Tsuna like that. "T-Though... I suck at ball sports: won't this make me look bad? I mean, I thought you didn't want that to happen..."

After all, Mammon's plan did seem to rely on Tsuna having a good reputation, so having others see Tsuna fail at sports was not the best of ideas in that regard as far as Tsuna could see. "If that's what you're worried about, don't be," Mammon answered, keeping his smirk, "since you won't be the one looking bad on that tournament."

"Huh?" _What does he mean with that...?_ Tsuna gave Mammon a confused look, being able to deduct that Mammon was indeed up to something but not knowing what exactly that was.

Meanwhile, Mammon was unfazed, almost as if he hadn't even noticed Tsuna. "You'll see when the time comes. For now, just get going; you can't be late to school." After that, without warning, Mammon started walking, leaving Tsuna behind.

"H-hey, wait!" Tsuna called, but got no response. _What is that baby planning...?_ He stared at Mammon's back for a while, contemplating it. Finding himself with no answer, he merely shook his head before dashing after Mammon, who wasn't that far from him. _Well, as long as it saves me from Hibari-san...!_

With that optimistic thought, Tsuna caught up to Mammon and smiled weakly, shifting his focus on other things...

* * *

 **. . .**

* * *

It was almost time for the tournament, Takeshi Yamamoto noted after being woken up by a few of his teammates. Looking around, he found that he was at his classroom; slept through it again, no doubt. With a carefree smile, he stood from his seat and nodded at his classmates. "I'll be right there! But first, I gotta take care of something, alright?"

He stretched, having not done so beforehand. Afterwards, he grinned at his classmates, almost as if to reassure them. "Okay!" one of them said before they all left, leaving Yamamoto alone in the classroom. _Huh, even the teacher's not around,_ he thought, having not noticed that at all before, _Guess I slept through the bell this time._

Such times were rare, but it wasn't like they never happened. Accepting that fairly quickly, Yamamoto decided to focus on something he had been faced with in the morning: inside his shoe locker, he had found a note for him. It was straightforward, short and easy to understand, as on it was only written:

'Come to the rooftop before the tournament.'

That note had no name signed on it, making him have no idea as to who the sender was; even so, that wasn't very worrying to Yamamoto. He had received many similar letters and notes, most of them about meeting people at certain areas of the school: sometimes, they were from tough-looking upperclassmen and other times, they were from girls he had gotten gifts from... both of them were admittedly complicated for Yamamoto (in different ways), but he would always come to them.

After all, he would get curious, and he didn't want to disappoint anyone. Either way, that also meant he was going to the rooftop so as to know who sent that note and why they had sent it. With a carefree stride, Yamamoto walked off the classroom while absent-mindedly reminding himself of where the stairs to the next floor were located. _That way... huh?_ "Hmmm?"

To the direction he had turned to, someone was staring at Yamamoto intently. That student, clearly an upperclassman, had a tonfa in each hand, eliciting fear in the students passing by the hallway. Not only that, but on one of the sleeves hanging off his jacket, for some reason never worn by its owner, was an armband belonging to the Disciplinary Committee.

Seeing as that person was giving him quite the dark glare for some reason, Yamamoto dropped his smile. For a moment, he wondered if that glare was truly directed at him and not at someone else behind him; he even checked. Unfortunately, no one was there, making him the only person in his line of sight. _This... is pretty bad,_ Yamamoto admitted in his mind, knowing exactly who the upperclassman from the Disciplinary Committee was... and he was dangerous.

He was Kyoya Hibari, brandishing his very, very lethal tonfas, his gaze completely focused on Yamamoto. "I found you," he only uttered in a low voice and started running towards Yamamoto.

Although Yamamoto had at first planned on going to the rooftop, it seemed like he had been rendered unable to do so. While he had absolutely no idea as to why Hibari of all people was after him, he found no choice but to not only disappoint whoever was waiting for him, but also to miss the tournament, which Hibari should have also been watching over (though he really didn't care about the tournament in the first place, finding no reason to attend over biting people to death).

 _Well,_ Yamamoto thought while turning around, knowing Hibari would soon be right behind him, _I gotta run...!_

* * *

 **. . .**

* * *

Strange things had happened when Tsuna entered the gymnasium.

First, squeals. From _girls._ Directed at _him,_ No-Good Tsuna. Other girls were cheering him of all people on! _What the...?!_

Second, his classmates' reactions when he entered the volleyball field. "We're counting on you," they said, "We know you'll knock 'em dead," they said... _Huh?!_ His classmates were speaking as if he were a reliable player... and everyone knew Tsuna sucked at ball sports.

Third, the name they were calling him:

'Yamamoto'.

As in, 'Takeshi Yamamoto'. After all, the girls cheering for him had headbands with his full name and the real Yamamoto was nowhere to be seen: the evidence was irrefutable. _They all think I'm Yamamoto?!_

And so, Tsuna freaked out. However, while he was doing that, the game had started; Tsuna gasped. He saw the ball flying in the air, thrown to his side of the field. His classmates gave him concerned looks when they noticed how visibly panicked 'Yamamoto' seemed to be, as that was not how he would usually behave.

Knowing the ball was coming for him, Tsuna practically threw his arms at the air in an impulsive attempt at passing it to the other side, but it hadn't even hit his hand. "Ow!" Instead, the ball had collided with his face, making many girls shriek in horror.

Tsuna had literally no idea of what was going on.

Meanwhile, Mammon was spectating the scene, satisfied with how his plan was going. If the real Yamamoto hadn't come, it meant that Hibari was after him all because he had bothered to make time for his letter: while Tsuna was Yamamoto, Yamamoto was Tsuna. Even if he had safely come to the roof, nothing in particular would happen beyond him wasting time as no one had actually been there beyond an illusion he had prepared, just in case.

He watched as Tsuna's classmates were shocked at how badly he was performing in the tournament. Even so, all of them were thinking that it was a bad day for 'Yamamoto', while if Tsuna had gone over to play, they would call him a loser instead and get mad at him: that was why the popular and reliable Yamamoto had been the best choice for Mammon's plan.

With that in mind, the plan was perfect: unlike the last one, in which he hadn't expected Kyoko and Hana to directly act upon the rumors he had spread for Tsuna's sake, nothing could go wrong. _Now, I just have to sit back and watch this pathetic excuse for a Vongola Boss ruin his team's tournament,_ he concluded, frowning in disinterest; Mammon was not a fan of sports.

Scheming had been an alright way to entertain himself, but beyond that, he knew he had no choice but to do the boring task of, just in case, watching over how his plan was going along so as to confirm that nothing had failed... even though he was certain his plan was perfect. However, Varia Quality demanded it so, and he was too used to Bel foiling and/or finding out about his plans with his genius intellect. _Hmph, makes me wonder what he's doing; it can't be worse than my job._

* * *

 **. . .**

* * *

... It was.

Or, at least, in Belphegor's perspective, Mammon's mission was surely better than what he was doing: _nothing._ A prince like him, beyond bored, lying on his bed, dangling a knife in his hand; oh, how he wished there was someone he could throw it at...

But _nooo,_ instead of him, the clearly superior Varia elite, _Lussuria_ got to go on a mission. A _mission!_ It wasn't like they hadn't had any since the Cradle affair, they were just amazingly rare: for example, Lussuria hadn't had a mission in over a year.

And Belphegor? Eight months. Before that mission, he hadn't gotten one in two years.

Two. _**Years.**_

When he joined the Varia by himself (without being scouted, like most usually were in the Varia), he had expected to kill many, many people... and he had done so, for a while. Then, the Boss decided to overthrow the Vongola and it all went crashing down on Belphegor, who had still been a child at the time and the newest member of the Varia: only some months had passed since he joined, but he had gone on many missions due to how promising he was.

Those had been the good days... Now, he had nothing to do but to gaze at his princely knife while calculating when exactly he would get another mission based on the time intervals between them.

Yes, Belphegor was so bored he was doing Math. Which wasn't so bad in his perspective (it proved to be a decent pastime, he noted), but he would have preferred to have been making someone into a cactus; that was _real_ fun.

Incredibly bored, Belphegor aimed his knife at the ceiling and threw it. Naturally, it hit exactly where he had wanted it to but it hadn't penetrated the ceiling, instead hitting it and swiftly dropping on Belphegor's bed.

Belphegor decided to calculate the force necessary to make his knife pierce the ceiling. Unfortunately, he had gotten his results in way too fast for that to serve as any entertainment for him: while he could have gotten a paper and a pen so he could waste time writing it down out of sheer boredom, Belphegor had lost those items a while ago in the mess that was his bedroom (not that he would admit that) and he did not feel like looking for them.

Suddenly, Belphegor sneezed.

The prince sneezed...! For some reason... There had been no change of temperature in his room or anything in his nose; in general, there had been nothing that could have made him sneeze. _Now that I think about it, isn't there a superstition in Japan where sneezing means someone is talking about you behind your back?_ Not only that, but Mammon happened to be in Japan, Belphegor noted, teaching some Japanese kid to become a mafia boss.

"Ushishishishi..." _I wonder if Mammon is saying anything he shouldn't behind my back,_ he thought, grinning at the mere thought of Mammon doing something he could get stabbed with knives for.

With that in mind, Belphegor got out of his bed and took the knife he had thrown, his mood having considerably improved. _Well then, who in Levi's squad should I target...?_

* * *

 **. . .**

* * *

"What's wrong with you today, Yamamoto?! Are you even taking this seriously?!" Tsuna heard one of his classmates shout to him at the fifth time he had failed to do... well, everything involving volleyball, his team currently losing badly.

Since he was in the tournament, Tsuna had expected such results but what he hadn't expected was the fact that everyone thought he was Yamamoto, one of the most popular students in his school. In general, he was known to play baseball really well, but it seemed like his classmates could also count on him for others sports, such as volleyball.

Tsuna glanced to the side, where a few of Yamamoto's fans were crying for him. _Why did this happen...?_ He thought while gazing at them blankly, only to get a ball to his stomach from his lack of attention. "Ugh!" _Seriously, why...?!_

Tsuna quickly stood up, sick of the situation he had been inserted in without any warning. He looked around, but found no traces of who he was looking for. _Mammon's gotta be behind this! I bet he made me look like Yamamoto with his illusions or something!_ Unfortunately, also due to the power of illusions, Mammon was nowhere to be seen. _Aaah, what am I gonna do...?! I can't just tell Mammon to stop when I don't even know if he's here!_

Panicked, Tsuna looked behind him, towards the exit. _Did he really need to make me look like Yamamoto?! Everyone'll be blaming him because of this; that's just terrible!_ While he didn't know Yamamoto that well, Tsuna did not want to ruin his day; the same would apply to anyone. _Besides, where is the actual Yamamoto? Shouldn't he be here too?_ It wasn't like Yamamoto had been absent: Tsuna had seen him in his previous classes.

It was also unlikely that he had suddenly gotten sick, as he was sure Yamamoto had been sleeping before he left the classroom for the tournament. Not only that but, if the real Yamamoto was at school, other students would've surely seen him already and found that strange: why hadn't Tsuna been caught? _Unless..._

 _Unless Mammon also cast an illusion on Yamamoto...!_ He thought back on his conversation with Mammon, where he had hinted at the fact that someone else would look bad in Tsuna's stead: that was, without a doubt, Yamamoto. However, Mammon had also told him that participating in the tournament would get Hibari out of his way. But, how could him participating in the tournament instead of Yamamoto make Hibari stop chasing after him for good? _N-no way... He couldn't have..._

Before, he hadn't been able to process anything from having suddenly been thrown into the tournament as someone else without even knowing it, but now that he had a grasp of his situation, he could not have been more shocked. _So Mammon's plan all along was for Yamamoto to get targeted by Hibari-san instead of me...?!_ The more he thought about it, the more plausible it seemed: Mammon, who was capable of casting illusions, could have easily made Yamamoto pose as Tsuna without him knowing, resulting in Hibari chasing him around and biting him to death instead.

With that, Mammon would get Hibari off of Tsuna's back and have him unscathed; even Tsuna could see the benefits that plan would have brought. However, he could not simply accept it, not when it was at Yamamoto's expense: Yamamoto had done Tsuna no wrong, and he definitely didn't deserve to face Hibari's wrath either. While the mere idea of approaching Hibari scared Tsuna, he could not stand the fact that, while he was playing volleyball like an idiot and overall ruining the tournament, Yamamoto was running for his life without even knowing why someone as dangerous as Hibari was chasing him in the first place.

 _I..._ "I've gotta do something...!" With a nervous yet determined expression on his face, Tsuna dashed out of the gymnasium as fast as he possibly could, making most around him gasp while others even shouted at him to stop. However, he was not going to stay for the tournament no matter what words anyone would use against him, not when someone was suffering because of him.

Mammon, who was watching, had to follow after Tsuna with an annoyed frown. _Good grief, this sure became troublesome._ He knew where Tsuna was headed, and it was definitely towards Hibari, the last person Mammon wanted him to see in his plans. Tsuna had most likely figured everything out, which hadn't been the most surprising part: Mammon thought Tsuna, even after finding out about his plans, wouldn't just back away from the tournament out of a mix of cowardice and not wanting to do anything inappropriate.

Unfortunately, it seemed like Tsuna had different priorities and decided to save Yamamoto, even if it meant doing something like leaving in the middle of the tournament. Mammon, not in the best moods, gave one last glance at the gymnasium before leaving, thinking about how to deal with the situation he had created...

Truly, he should have just created backup plans.

* * *

 **. . .**

* * *

For some time, Hibari had been chasing 'Tsunayoshi Sawada' and he was fast; _suspiciously_ fast... He hadn't observed him before, but from his first impression of him, he thought Tsuna would never be able to reach the speeds he was currently running at. However, as expected, Hibari was superior so, getting more serious about the situation, he caught up with 'Tsuna' and aimed for a hit on his back.

... Which failed, since 'Tsuna' had been miraculously able to dodge with reflexes Hibari had also thought he wouldn't have; he tried again. "Whoa...!" Despite that sound, he had been able to dodge that one too. Besides, more than the scared, horrified or panicked expressions he had seen on Tsuna's face yesterday, 'Tsuna' was shocked and somewhat confused: what was so confusing? Was it not obvious that Hibari wanted to bite him to death?

Although he had not looked intelligent to Hibari, he was sure Tsuna would at least understand that he had made him angry for obvious reasons: despite that, 'Tsuna's' actions did not at all indicate that he was aware of his situation. It was suspicious... but also insulting, so Hibari felt like taking him down even more. While getting another one of his attacks dodged by 'Tsuna', Hibari noticed something odd about his movements: 'Tsuna' seemed to be protecting his right arm.

Why? There was no reason for him to do so; no injuries were visible on it either. Hibari had gone through the trouble of gathering all possible information on Tsunayoshi Sawada before setting out to bite him to death: he was a first-year already known for his atrocious grades on every subject and overall clumsiness. He had joined no clubs, and barely participated in any school events; beyond that, he would also skip school occasionally. Overall, he was completely not worth Hibari's time, which was what made him so angry about the events of yesterday: someone as weak as Tsuna should not have been able to hurt Hibari considerably, cover him with food and escape completely unscathed; his pride could not allow that.

"You won't get away...!" Hibari muttered before his attack aimed at 'Tsuna's' stomach connected, making him groan and fall back, seemingly shocked. The sheer humiliation of having been caught off guard by someone like Tsunayoshi Sawada could not easily be forgotten: while 'Tsuna' was on the floor, defenseless, Hibari wondered what to do with him. What would recover Hibari's peace of mind? Just what sort of punishment would be equivalent to the bloodthirst and anger he currently felt?

That was a hard question for him: Hibari would usually not come across people bold enough to do what Tsuna had done, and most of the people who did had 'mysteriously' disappeared from Namimori, or at least made to never do it again (if they knew what was good for them). Before he could decide on how badly he would bite 'Tsuna' to death, he heard a gasp and loud footsteps coming towards him; he immediately looked in their direction.

On the horizon, Hibari could see a student with black hair and brown eyes, a panicked expression on his face that he could not help but link to Tsuna's. 'Tsuna' also decided to look in that direction, confused at what Hibari had decided to focus on; his eyes widened at the sight before him. "Another me...?" he questioned in quite the convincing tone, as if he weren't making anything up.

"Y-you're...!" 'Yamamoto' uttered, shocked as well. _I knew it!_ he thought, seeing 'Tsuna' before him, _This was all Mammon's doing!_

Hibari analyzed the situation before him: "Another me", the 'Tsuna' in front of him had said, even though he looked nothing like the student that had suddenly interrupted everything. "Who are you?" Hibari asked, somewhat annoyed from the fact that something was definitely wrong, and he had yet to find out what.

'Yamamoto' flinched, scared at Hibari talking to him; it reminded Hibari of someone... someone he was supposedly about to bite to death. He looked down and saw the confused stare of 'Tsuna', as if he had no idea of what was going on at all. "Actually, don't answer," Hibari said, making 'Yamamoto' seem even more panicked than he already was, "I already know who you are."

"Wha...?!" 'Yamamoto' could only exclaim that in shock, finding it absolutely unbelievable that Hibari could somehow see through illusions. _He, he knows...?!_

"Takeshi Yamamoto..." 'Yamamoto' felt like falling to the ground from the suspense he had gathered crashing down on him, as Hibari seemed to have gotten to the wrong conclusions. "I hear about you from noisy crowds sometimes," after he would bite them to death, though he didn't even feel the need to add that bit of information, "So you're an accomplice of his; it looks like you were planning something after all."

 _Nooooo, why did you have to assume that...?!_ 'Yamamoto' thought, practically ready to cry from how much worse the situation was becoming. "An accomplice? For what?" 'Tsuna' asked confusedly, "Is this some sort of game you suddenly let me in on? I wouldn't mind that, but I've got a tournament to be in; could you leave it for later?"

Hibari narrowed his eyes at 'Tsuna', who was smiling in a carefree manner. "Don't think you can continue on with your prank any longer; I've already figured you out." _No, you haven't figured us out at all!_ 'Yamamoto' shouted out in his mind, knowing that saying it out loud would only bring him trouble. "Now, tell me all about your plans... and I'll bite you all to death afterwards."

 _Isn't that supposed to be 'or'...?!_ 'Yamamoto' questioned with a blank gaze, finding that Hibari truly had no mercy. Well, after all that had happened with Tsuna yesterday, there was simply no way Hibari wouldn't bite him to death; he was already lucky that Hibari wasn't going to literally kill him. "Plans? I can't really follow you, sorry," 'Tsuna' said while scratching his head, smiling nervously.

"Uh...!" 'Yamamoto' uttered, unsure of what to do. "W-we really don't have any plans!" Even if he was sure Hibari would not accept that answer, he had no better lie either. In the end, since he couldn't do anything properly, he had no choice but to stand there and panic while Hibari would beat him up.

Perhaps there was no hope for him after all, and his efforts had been useless; his doom had been fated from the start. "Then I'll just bite you to dea—" While Hibari had wanted to hit 'Tsuna' with one of his tonfas, his arm already raised and prepared for said attack, something had restrained it, making him unable to move it further.

The sheer surprise of that, and the fact that his whole body had been just as quickly bound by something he couldn't help but describe as 'strange' made him stop speaking. His expression was that of visible surprise, making both 'Tsuna' and 'Yamamoto' shocked.

Before them, Hibari could be seen, bound by what seemed to be blue tentacles. "Run," a sudden voice ordered, one 'Yamamoto' could recognize well. Hibari glared at its source, appearing from black mist: the cloaked baby he had seen yesterday, a frown on his face.

"M-Mammon...?!" 'Yamamoto' stared at Mammon incredulously, unable to even process his orders. _He restrained Hibari-san with those tentacles?!_

'Tsuna' simply backed off from Hibari slowly and stood up, staring in curiosity. "Whoa, what kind of effects did you use for this? It looks pretty realistic!" he exclaimed, seemingly admired.

 _H-he thinks it's just effects...!_ 'Yamamoto' shifted his focus to 'Tsuna' momentarily, shocked at how gullible he was. "Just do what I told you," Mammon said, "and get away from here." With that, Mammon decided he was better off dispelling the illusions on Tsuna and Yamamoto, making them fade away in mist and exposing their true identities.

"Oh, you were Tsuna all along?" Yamamoto questioned, amazed at what he had just seen. "Neat! You've got real talent; you're like a magician or something!" _It wasn't even me who did this, the culprit's right there...!_ Tsuna thought while glancing at Mammon blankly, finding the level of naiveté from Yamamoto utterly ridiculous.

However, he did not feel like ignoring Mammon's words any longer, knowing that they were for the best. "W-we should get away from here!" Tsuna said, hoping that Yamamoto wouldn't want any details.

"Well, alright." _That was fast!_ Even so, it was convenient for Tsuna that Yamamoto was so careless, making Tsuna only run after hearing his acknowledgment.

To his relief, Yamamoto started running right behind him, though it seemed like he could pass him any time he desired; he was merely keeping up with Tsuna's below average pace. Mammon glanced at them before focusing on Hibari, who was still glaring at him despite Tsuna, his main target, having escaped him. "What's the meaning of this, baby?" he asked in a threatening tone, though that failed to intimidate Mammon.

"It's exactly what it looks like: you're troublesome, so I'm holding you still," Mammon answered in a somewhat neutral manner, seeing that Tsuna had already left with Yamamoto. In the situation both were in, Mammon had deducted there was no way for Tsuna to get away without help, so he found himself with no choice but to ( _begrudgingly_ ) step in.

Either way, Hibari already knew of him: there would be no difference. "And what gives you the right to do that? I don't know what you used to make these appear and restrain me, but I won't stand for more of this; I'll bite you to death, and those two will follow soon afterwards." He tried resisting the tentacles' grasp, but that only served to have them tighten further around his limbs; Hibari grew more annoyed by the second.

"If that's still what you're planning on doing, then go ahead and try to get away from those," Mammon said, "They'll only disappear if you don't get in my way. I've got other things to deal with; I wouldn't like to waste my time on you." Despite that, Mammon had a feeling he would be seeing more of Kyoya Hibari, which was quite unfortunate.

However, as long as he didn't hurt Tsuna too much, Mammon wouldn't need to interfere. "In the way of your plan? I won't let you go through with it: I won't forgive anyone who disturbs the peace of Namimori." Even when Mammon's tentacles had been practically cutting off his circulation, Hibari still managed to barely move his arms somewhat, which was quite the feat from anyone trapped like that.

"Good grief, what an assumption: I've told you before, but I have no plans beyond watching over Tsunayoshi Sawada." Honestly, Mammon would have preferred to just kill Hibari, but he was sure that wasn't allowed in his job; even so, what would the Ninth expect? Mammon was an assassin: 'No man, no problem', was a quote the Varia upheld well.

Unfortunately, the Vongola, a mafia family, didn't work that way: softies, the whole lot of them. "And why would you need to watch over Tsunayoshi Sawada?" Hibari asked, still unconvinced; it was already amazing that he was bothering to ask questions.

"I'm his tutor," Mammon said, knowing he wouldn't be taken seriously. Even so, that was Hibari's problem, not Mammon's. "Nothing more, nothing less. Now, instead of taking revenge and risking worse than this, forget about everything and leave him alone; or else..."

Of course, Mammon was not going to end that sentence: leaving that up to the target's imagination was always better as an intimidation tactic; the mind could come up with quite the gruesome scenarios by itself. However, Hibari did not seem affected in the way Mammon had desired, as he was instead glaring at him darkly. "You know..." he muttered lowly, "I'm really angry right now."

The tentacles restraining his right arm seemed to be loosening for some reason, surprising Mammon. "Hm...?" _Impossible..._

"... Because I merely wasted my time with weaklings that had nothing better to do but use foolish magic tricks around the school," Hibari continued as he found himself able to force his right arm out of the tentacles, "And now you, the baby behind all of this is threatening me however he pleases; it's like you want to get bitten to death...!" With that, he immediately released his left arm from the tentacles as if it hadn't taken him that much effort.

The rest of the tentacles faded away afterwards, revealing to Hibari how they had been an illusion all along. "What..." Mammon couldn't help but be somewhat shocked at how Hibari had been able to thwart that illusion: even though that illusion hadn't been a powerful one, he did not expect a middle school student like him to free himself from it through sheer strength of will.

"Another trick, huh..." Hibari muttered, looking below him with narrowed eyes. "I knew it." Mammon took a step back just as Hibari focused his glare on him, already assuming a battle stance. "Now, are you ready? Even if you aren't, I'll bite you to death...!"

With an astounding speed, Hibari charged at Mammon who had to dodge by floating backwards. _He's strong enough to break free from illusions without even knowing of them...?_ Mammon floated to the side from Hibari's quick attack, only for him to have to move again, but in the opposite direction: Hibari's attacks were fast and relentless; he had talent, Mammon admitted. "Hmph, it looks like I'll have to take you more seriously..."

Mammon made many copies of himself to throw Hibari off, which would be used to set up a plan to at least temporarily disable Hibari; he couldn't kill him anyway. "If tricks are all you can do, you must also be a weakling; you're disappointing me." With a swing of his tonfa, Hibari made three of Mammon's illusions disappear, his expression the same.

"Don't get in over your head just because you dispelled that; these aren't just 'tricks'," Mammon informed, making all of his clones speak at the same time. However, Mammon was aware that he was leagues above someone like him; in fact, he hadn't even taken that much time to find a way to beat him. "They'll become your most terrifying nightmares...!"

Strong wind blew within the hallways, even though the weather was perfectly fine. Luckily, there were no other students in the area to witness such a phenomenon, and how the light coming from the Sun had started inexplicably dimming as well. Hibari, struggling to keep himself in the same spot, glared at Mammon, seeing him smirk.

Just when Hibari had readied himself to strike Mammon (or a few of his clones) again, he could see the wall in front of him quickly crack, soon followed by some of the floor: afterwards, they crumbled apart. From there, the whole building started crumbling, leaving Hibari with no choice but to step back from Mammon, who happened to be floating.

... In truth, Mammon had stopped doing so a while ago: without Fantasma, he could not keep himself in the air for long, and he wasn't about to use such powers. He was actually standing on the floor that Hibari had thought crumbled apart, confident that he would not escape the illusions he had cast on him. While Mammon had let his guard down, thinking he would not have the power to even break through illusions in the first place, that would not happen a second time: Mammon was from the Varia, after all; failure was not tolerated.

Keeping the same smirk as he watched Hibari run from the crumbling floor, Mammon proceeded to finish everything off with an illusion of a wall suddenly rising in front of Hibari, rendering him unable to move forward. In the seconds that he had to stop and process that the wall was there in the first place, Mammon had already sent all of his clones flying, their heads replaced with that of a mallet's; their aim was undoubtedly Hibari.

Not only that, to ensure that Hibari would be further distracted, Mammon made the wind stronger so as to somewhat throw him off; as a backup plan, Mammon considered ice. With everything set for Hibari's defeat, Mammon decided to simply watch, finding that what he had done got him in a somewhat nostalgic mood.

When had been the last time Mammon had gotten a mission assigned to him? While Mammon never bothered counting, he was sure a year had passed at the very least. Without missions, Mammon would have nothing to fight, nothing to kill, nothing to deceive... and, more importantly, no money to gain. Due to that (excluding the money part), it had been somewhat satisfying to use so many illusions against an opponent, even if it was someone not worth his time.

Despite that, he preferably did not want to bother doing anything of the sort for Tsuna ever again: if anything, he would have wanted to make use of his powers in a proper, Varia-like mission (assassination), but such a thing seemed to have become impossible now that he had burdened himself with taking care of someone like Tsuna.

Well, money was money, and Mammon surely couldn't complain about that. He could, however, curse that he was doing things clearly out of what had been requested just so he would look better; it wasn't like Tsuna had much money to steal from either!

... Mammon proceeded to think of other ways to extort money from the Sawada residence.

* * *

 **. . .**

* * *

While Tsuna had been the one leading Yamamoto, he had no idea where he was headed; he had just run like Mammon told him to. _Mammon..._ He thought back on what happened, and his plan. _If he hadn't cast any illusions, none of this would've happened...! But..._

 _If he hadn't done anything, I would've still been done for because of Hibari-san... So, in the end, it was all for me, huh?_ Even so, Tsuna couldn't help but be angry at Mammon for the lengths he had gone to make Tsuna not have to be hospitalized, which hadn't even been for Tsuna's sake: he had just found it troublesome if Tsuna were bitten to death by Hibari.

Besides, they had talked about not sacrificing others for Tsuna's sake only yesterday, making it even worse that Mammon had gone through with that. _Was that why he was so vague this morning?_ If that was the case, instead of the implications that he hadn't listened or remembered Tsuna's words at all, it was even worse: with that plan, Mammon implied that he didn't care about Tsuna's opinions in the slightest. _Not that it surprises me..._

Tsuna stopped in his tracks, and sighed. For some reason, it saddened him that Mammon had such disregard for him: it wasn't like Tsuna also cared a lot about Mammon but, as his tutor, Tsuna expected him to put what he'd say in some consideration. "Something wrong?" At that question from Yamamoto, who had quickly moved to his side, Tsuna flinched.

"Huh?! N-no, nothing at all...!" Tsuna responded, not finding his problems worth talking about, especially due to how unbelievable they were.

There was just no way Tsuna would ever tell Yamamoto, someone he would barely talk to, about the fact that Mammon was his home tutor. In fact, he wasn't going to tell that to anyone: if, for example, Kyoko were to find that out, Tsuna would surely freak out. "Well, if you say so," Yamamoto concluded, a carefree expression on his face, "You know, that kid back there told us to run away and all that, but I still don't really know what's going on."

Due to being reminded of how much he had run, Tsuna couldn't help but notice how much his legs hurt. However, having Yamamoto's circumstances in mind, he decided to ignore that. "Ah, uh, um...!" While he wanted to explain himself somewhat, Tsuna had no idea of how to do so without omitting crucial yet ridiculous parts like how Mammon could cast illusions and the like, making no words come out of his mouth. "I, I'm sorry...!"

In the end, that was all he could say, feeling immensely guilty for his actions in the volleyball tournament despite that also being Mammon's fault. Even so, Tsuna had participated for him for a while, and he was so bad that surely he had ruined some of Yamamoto's reputation; that made him guilty of something. Besides, because Yamamoto had been assuming Tsuna's form, he had almost gotten bitten to death for no reason. "Hm? Why are you apologizing?"

Yamamoto's confusion only hurt Tsuna further. "I-it's because I... I participated in the tournament in your place, and made you look terrible in front of so many people...!" Even if that made no sense in any normal situation, Tsuna wasn't thinking of that, his emotions taking over. "And because you looked like me, Hibari-san was chasing after you, even though you did nothing wrong, I... I caused you all sorts of trouble! I'm really sorry!"

Tsuna bowed somewhat, his expression indicating just how genuinely regretful and nervous he was about talking to Yamamoto. Meanwhile, Yamamoto wore a surprised expression from Tsuna's words and the clear emotions transmitted from them, having not given much thought on everything that had been happening before: he hadn't even tried to figure out why Hibari was after him, and what Tsuna was doing there in the first place.

 **. . .**

... After a while, Yamamoto grinned cheerfully. "Don't be so down; it's alright!" he said in an effort to cheer Tsuna up. "In the end, you came over, right? I'm pretty sure the tournament didn't end yet, so you ran all the way there to stop Hibari, didn't you? Thanks for that; honestly, I thought I was done for there." Yamamoto scratched his head sheepishly, having more or less put everything past him. In his mind, he figured Tsuna probably had his reasons for all he had done, so there was no need to keep any grudges.

Tsuna stared at Yamamoto in awe, surprised at his forgiving personality and at how he seemed to have correctly guessed Tsuna had come over there to save him, even if he hadn't done anything at all. "Yamamoto..." he muttered, still processing his words. _He's not angry at all? Really?_ "A-are you sure?"

"Of course! Even if everyone was counting on me, what's done is done, right? There's no point being angry about not answering everyone's expectations on just one day," Yamamoto said, "But really, if you wanted to participate in the tournament that badly, you could've just asked, though I'm not really sure they'd let you; I guess that's why you didn't, huh?"

Yamamoto chuckled, leaving Tsuna to blankly stare at the floor, seemingly helpless. _He... He thinks I wanted to play volleyball..._ Perhaps that was for the best, Tsuna noted. At least, it was way better than having to tell him he had a baby home tutor that could cast illusions, and that it had been his fault that he participated in the first place. If anything, his ignorance seemed to be making everything easier for Tsuna.

From Tsuna's lack of a response, Yamamoto simply kept talking, "Anyway, you're really amazing, Tsuna; those aren't magic tricks anyone can do!" _What?!_ Tsuna reacted mentally, staring at Yamamoto incredulously. "I never thought anything of you at first, but it looks like you did have talents of your own after all! I guess I gotta try harder; I wish my baseball were as good as your skills."

"W-wait, I didn't do anything...!" Tsuna immediately countered, shaking his head furiously in denial. _Those illusions were all Mammon's doing, not mine...!_ "That was actually all that baby's doing, seriously...!" Even if Tsuna found it unlikely that anyone would believe that, he certainly did not want to gain recognition from something he hadn't done, so he decided to say the truth regardless.

... Yamamoto chuckled; Tsuna had a feeling his words didn't have his desired effect. "You're a really funny guy!" _He took it as a joke...!_ Tsuna felt like hiding in a corner, knowing there wouldn't be very good way to clear Yamamoto's misunderstanding. "There's no need to be shy: you've gotta be proud of talent like that! But, speaking of that kid, where did he come from? He seemed linked with everything somehow..."

 _Oh no!_ Tsuna flinched, quickly attempting to look for any ways to justify Mammon's presence in his mind. "Well, uh, h-he's—"

"Your assistant, right?" Yamamoto said with a smile, as if he was completely sure he was correct in his guess. "After all, all illusionists have assistants to help with their magic tricks!" _'Illusionist'?! How does it come to that...?!_ "Though, I've never seen a kid assistant in magic shows; it's usually women. Did you take him under your wing or something? That's cool, like some TV show!"

 _No, it's the exact opposite situation..._ Even so, he could not just tell Yamamoto that Mammon was actually his home tutor, since that made no sense... even if the idea of Tsuna being an illusionist also made no sense in the slightest. "Putting that aside, I-I'm glad you're alright," Tsuna nervously said, having given up on that topic.

"Thanks! I hope I was actually helpful with your magic tricks though: I didn't know about anything, so I just ran around; I didn't think you'd have Hibari in on them too, that was surprising!" Despite those words, Yamamoto was grinning cheerfully as if he was talking about something fun or remembering something enjoyable.

... Tsuna cringed. _Now he's thinking I got Hibari-san of all people to help me; he's way too naive...!_ "U-uh..." Tsuna didn't even know what to say to Yamamoto's assumptions and misunderstandings; they made too little sense in his mind.

Yamamoto chuckled. "You don't have to be that nervous; those tricks were pretty neat!" _That's not why I can't speak, it really isn't, so just please stop...!_ "Speaking of that, I've been hearing you're getting better in classes: I guess people'll stop calling you that nickname soon, huh? At least, they shouldn't be doing anything like that now." Yamamoto had always been (somewhat) aware of how Tsuna was treated by his class, or the school in general: however, since he truly seemed like he was lazy and not good at anything, Yamamoto didn't feel the need to pay him much attention.

Even so, he did find it unpleasant whenever his teammates would do that; Yamamoto was no advocator of bullying, after all. If anything, after seeing Tsuna rushing in to save him and genuinely apologizing for his actions (which Yamamoto didn't even consider to be that bad since he thought he had his reasons for them), he felt somewhat regretful for not having done something before: Tsuna was not a bad person, so he didn't deserve to get ignored or treated in such a way; he would try his best just like anyone else. All of that, those emotions, could somehow be picked up by Tsuna, who was staring into his eyes: they were clear; Yamamoto had nothing to hide. Could that have been why Tsuna could have some notion of what kind of emotions Yamamoto was feeling in the first place?

Either way, since he noticed them, Tsuna couldn't help but feel surprised, but not in a negative way like he had been when Yamamoto was misunderstanding everything; if anything, Tsuna was in awe of Yamamoto yet again. "You know what? If you get into any trouble, you can count on me, Tsuna," Yamamoto stated, still with a smile on his face. Tsuna could tell Yamamoto meant those words, as everything about him suggested that: even that smile of his indicated reliability more than it did cheerfulness. "I'll be your friend!"

"Huh...?!" Tsuna reacted, a shocked expression on his face. Despite having been able to discern some of Yamamoto's emotions, Tsuna did not see that coming at all.

In all of his life, Tsuna had never gotten anyone he could call a friend. Ever since he remembered, he was fairly clumsy and, well, No-Good. Because of that, no one ever wanted to be with him, making fun of him and casting them out of their groups instead: in the end, Tsuna always had to play alone and when he no longer was at that age, he simply had nothing to do at school beyond gazing at Kyoko and reminding himself of how impossible it would be for someone like her to ever talk to him.

Tsuna had gotten used to that kind of life, as that was all he had experienced: he had already rationalized that because he was so hopeless, no one would become friends with him, and that there was no worth in trying. "I mean, you don't have any friends, right? That's gotta be lonely," Yamamoto said, "having no one to rely on. Besides, you're not that bad, Tsuna."

 **. . .**

Tsuna merely gazed at Yamamoto, his eyes still wide in shock. "Y-Yamamoto..." Yamamoto was grinning at him, expecting a response from Tsuna.

In truth, while Yamamoto did have friends, he wasn't particularly close to any of them: he liked them all, but he never had anyone he especially liked or hung out with. After all, he would usually see them when he had club activities, since they were all from the baseball club. Discerning that Tsuna wasn't going to say anything, Yamamoto tried again, "So, I'll be your friend! Alright?" Admittedly, Tsuna's silence wasn't doing anything good for his confidence, but Yamamoto was carefree enough to ignore that and remain positive.

Meanwhile, Tsuna was still processing that, finding it unbelievable that anyone would want to be his friend. Not only that, but the person who wanted to be his friend happened to be one of the most popular students in school, and someone whose day Tsuna had ruined (though Yamamoto had forgiven that). Despite how naive and carefree he was, Tsuna could tell Yamamoto was a good person, and that he wasn't tricking him or something of that sort: he actually wanted to be his friend.

 **. . .**

 **. . .**

... Tsuna managed a small smile within all the shock, awe and happiness he felt, uttering only, "O-okay." Even so, he still couldn't believe Yamamoto's claims. "But, i-is it really alright?" _Can someone like me really have a friend? And Yamamoto at that..._ He certainly had never expected that turn of events.

Yamamoto chuckled, as if finding the question amusing. "Of course!" he cheerfully said, glad that Tsuna had actually agreed: he almost thought he wouldn't. Yamamoto turned to a window nearby, seeing a fair amount of students heading for the gates with the intent of leaving the school. The tournament had actually occurred after school, so there were almost no students in the school building: instead, the ones that were in school in the first place had been in the gymnasium. "Well, since the tournament's over, I guess I can't go back, huh?" Tsuna cast his eyes on the floor, reminding himself of the fact that it had all been his fault (and Mammon's). "Let's go home together then!"

Tsuna immediately looked up at Yamamoto again, somewhat surprised. _He really doesn't think anything of what I did..._ Tsuna smiled. "Sure," he said, carrying only happiness within him: he had gotten a friend.

Side by side, Tsuna and Yamamoto started walking along the hallway. Finding that such a thing was happening, and that he had really gained a friend, Tsuna couldn't help but be as happy as he was thoughtful. _Now that I think about it, if Mammon hadn't done anything, I would've never encountered Yamamoto, and none of this would've ever happened..._ While it hadn't been Mammon's intention for any of that to happen, and Tsuna was aware of that, he couldn't help but be somewhat thankful to him, even though he had clearly gone against his wishes; otherwise, nothing positive would have occurred to Tsuna. _And ever since Mammon showed up and got me to go along with his plan, Kyoko-chan has been talking to me._

 _If Mammon hadn't been here..._ "You know, I sometimes spot you going to school, but it doesn't look like you live in my neighborhood. Where do you live?" Yamamoto asked with a smile, seemingly curious.

"Uh, well..." Perhaps, Tsuna figured, Mammon's arrival hadn't been all bad, even if Mammon himself was rather unpleasant. While he still didn't want to become a mafia boss and felt uncomfortable with cheating, he was at least satisfied with the positive changes occurring to his daily life.

Proceeding to answer Yamamoto's question, Tsuna wondered what else would lie in store for his life with Mammon around as his home tutor, and Yamamoto as his friend...

* * *

 **Author's Notes:**

* * *

And so, this target ends in a really sweet note! Meanwhile, Hibari gets his ass kicked ^^' I'm sorry, Hibari, I really am, I didn't mean for you to suffer this much so please don't bite me to death! I actually love Hibari, so yeah, no Hibari bashing intended if it comes off as such (which I doubt)! Honestly, it was necessary for Mammon to beat Hibari so he could give more priority to Mammon than him being mad at Tsuna throwing a lunch box at him (XD): that way, he won't hospitalize Tsuna or constantly chase him around either, while being aware of his and Mammon's presence.

With that in mind, Hibari is totally the Cloud Guardian in this story, and he will totally want to beat Mammon before dealing with Tsuna. Beyond that, Yamamoto is also a thing! Unfortunately for you manga readers, I didn't have him commit suicide ^^' Instead I made Yamamoto want to be friends with Tsuna: honestly, this definitely wouldn't have worked if another character were put in Yamamoto's place; only Yamamoto could ask that after getting screwed over. I'm so glad Yamamoto is a forgiving guy... Anyway, that turned out to be quite the scene, mostly because unlike the series, where Tsuna just kind of collects friends almost without realizing it, Yamamoto flat out asks him to be his friend.

Because of this, I imagined Tsuna to be really shocked, since he's got a huge lack of self-esteem and never had any friends before (or, at least, it seems like it in the series). One thing that I'm really liking about this story is how in the end, every character ends up getting involved with Tsuna, but in completely different ways from canon XD Despite that, I was actually never planning on having Yamamoto in this chapter: at first, I wanted Tsuna to replace a random classmate in the tournament, but then the brilliant idea of it being Yamamoto instead came to mind so I had to do it. It turned out really nice, so I have no regrets and Yamamoto is totally our Rain Guardian, by the way ^^

Dat Belphegor scene though XDD I loved writing it, even if, in your perspective, it wasn't necessary (as in, it could've been cut from the target just fine): it was just so funny to portray Bel's boredom in the form of sheer writing style, and it's always great to write the Varia. Really, one of the best parts of this story is how it allows me to portray everyone's perspectives; it's a lot of fun. Even so, it's also really nerve-wracking since I'm always afraid I'll get anyone OOC: if you think anything in this is really OOC, please tell me! Aaah, I'm trying so hard with Mammon...!

Speaking of him, I find that I've made him scheme a lot: in general, he's been coming up with a trillion plans while Tsuna complains about them; that's the Mammon/Tsuna dynamic right there (just joking... hopefully) XD Also, what Mammon did to Hibari was overkill lol, but that wasn't even him getting serious: in my mind, serious Mammon distorts the environment and mindfucks you rather than playing with said environment. Also, if you remember the Mist Match, you can kind of notice how Mukuro uses opposite types of illusions from Mammon: Mukuro uses fire while Mammon uses ice 0.0

Beyond that, it was great that I used the very KHR-like ending that consists of Tsuna going like, "Now that I think about it, if Reborn weren't here, I would've been in the shit..." I mean, things have changed positively for Tsuna ever since Mammon arrived, so I might as well have him realize that... even though Mammon never intended all that positive stuff ^^' Either way, Tsuna is friends with Yamamoto, Mammon kicked Hibari's ass and wants compensation for doing that sort of work and everything is going just great in general.

Look forward to the next target?


	9. Target 7

**First Words:**

* * *

Since the last Target, this story got 3 favorites and 4 followers, thank you! ^^ However, I have somewhat bad news: you know this weekly schedule I have with this story where I upload every Monday? Welp, I'm gonna be uploading once per month from now on; I'm basically gonna change to a monthly schedule. This is so I can guarantee I will be ahead of you and that I'll at least almost always have a Target to upload, as you've really been catching up to me lately. Hopefully this won't be too bad for anyone, but yeah... see you next month?

Also, another important announcement: if you came in here from the alerts or favorites tab of your profile (or your email), after reading this Target, please go to the Katekyo Hitman Reborn category. Trust me, if you didn't read the Author's Notes at the bottom (after reading the actual Target, of course), you'll be in for a surprise, though I don't know whether you'll find it awesome or not; at least I do ^^

Haru's speech patterns = I should've told you this before (because she appeared before), but I decided to ommit her third person speech, as in, she's technically talking in third person, but I'm not writing it that way because it sounds really weird. Also, if you find any out-of-place emphasis, that's actually Haru's Engrish; she likes doing that kind of thing.

Anyway, enjoy!

* * *

 **Target 7: Hahii! _Dangerous_ Misunderstandings**

* * *

As days passed, Mammon had noticed a few changes in Tsunayoshi Sawada and his daily life.

The most notable one was, of course, the annoyingly cheerful friend he had made from the fluke that had been his previous plan; at the very least, Mammon reasoned, it did make Hibari not care about Tsuna anymore... and instead, he seemed completely focused on meeting Mammon again. "Where is the baby?" Hibari would occasionally ask Tsuna, only for him to truthfully say he had no idea.

As far as Tsuna knew, Mammon could be anywhere. Beyond these changes, Tsuna just seemed less depressed in general: Mammon remembered seeing his dejected expression when walking to school, and how the only time his mood seemed to brighten was when Kyoko Sasagawa was in his line of sight. Now that he had a friend, Tsuna would visibly look forward to going to school, having found one more reason (beyond Kyoko) to do so. Due to this, Tsuna had become much more motivated to study, making him not complain about everything as much as before; that was at least something to be glad for in Mammon's perspective.

As he thought about it, Tsuna hadn't argued with Mammon at all when he got home on the day Mammon had exacted his last plan, even though he had clearly done something the oh-so-kind-hearted Tsuna would consider 'cruel' or 'terrible'. It wasn't like Tsuna had forgotten about it since he had talked a bit about that to Mammon but beyond that, he hadn't bothered Mammon as much as he had expected. While Mammon did not at all care about Tsuna's social life, he had to admit it brought him some benefits.

... However, it was still greatly displeasing having to tolerate Yamamoto coming over to Tsuna's house. "Wrong," Mammon said after looking over their answers, his expression showing clear disinterest, "Again."

"Me or Tsuna?" Yamamoto asked with a smile, seemingly curious.

Mammon shot him a sharp look. "Both, since you're both idiots." Tsuna could have at least gotten a friend with good grades; that would have made everything so much easier for Mammon.

"Mammon...!" Tsuna whined, mostly bothered because Mammon was also insulting Yamamoto, a guest and his friend. Not only that but, despite being aware that he was not the most intellectual of people, being called an idiot still offended him.

After all, even if it was true, it was still an insult. Besides, the fact that his home tutor was calling him that in front of his friend was somewhat embarrassing. Yamamoto chuckled. "You're harsh...!" he remarked, still smiling cheerfully.

Although Mammon had been paid to tutor Tsuna, having to also deal with his jolly friend was not something he had signed up for: however, since he was posing as an actual home tutor, he could not simply refuse to look over his answers as well. Besides, it wasn't like Yamamoto would leave if he did so: he would stick around anyway so there was no point; he would still annoy Mammon. "Hmph, just do this again," Mammon said while handing the two sheets of paper he had looked over to Tsuna. With a displeased frown, he added, "He's closer to the answer than you are, Tsuna."

Somehow, Yamamoto happened to be more intelligent than Tsuna, even though Tsuna was the more perceptive one: while Mammon didn't like Tsuna and had already thought he was closest thing to a hopeless case he had ever seen, he admittedly found it worse that Yamamoto could outsmart Tsuna if he put his mind to it. Whatever the case, since Mammon didn't want them to be stuck on the same problem (as that would prolong the time he would have to bother with Tsuna and Yamamoto), he found himself with no choice but to say that Yamamoto was the closest to the answer, implying he was better. "Really? Nice!" Yamamoto said, "Maybe we can finally get this one solved now."

"Yeah..." Tsuna muttered, somewhat disappointed in himself; even so, he didn't feel sad. If anything, studying had become less depressingly dull ever since he had Yamamoto with him. Giving Yamamoto's question sheet to him, Tsuna glanced at Mammon before taking his eraser.

Instead of how he actually looked (an infant), Mammon had the illusion of the equally mysterious-looking young man that was officially his home tutor. Even without having his face covered (though it wasn't his real one), he managed to still let out a mysterious and fairly gloomy presence... or had it just been Tsuna who thought that? Seeing as he was, for the most part, surrounded by oblivious people, he could never be too sure. "You know," Yamamoto suddenly spoke up, "I've been wondering this for a while but does your brother have the same name as you somehow? At least, I remember Tsuna calling your brother 'Mammon', and he does the same to you."

Mammon glanced at Tsuna from that question directed at him, seemingly neutral. _Brother?_ he thought, _That's what he came up with?_ While Mammon had already intended to have Yamamoto think his actual form and the illusion were separate entities, he did not want them to be that closely related. _I guess I shouldn't have expected any more than that_. Tsuna did always seem to agitatedly shout out his name every time he unexpectedly appeared in front of him, after all: he wasn't exactly what anyone could call a master of subtlety. "It's—"

"I-it's because Mammon's brother is called Mammon Junior...!" Tsuna blurted out, that being the first lie that had popped to mind in the middle of his panic. "But that's a mouthful so I just call him Mammon too when they're not together!" _Aaah, that was such a bad lie, why did I have to talk when Mammon was about to handle it...?!_ Tsuna thought, a clearly helpless expression on his face.

Despite that, it remained unnoticed by Yamamoto, who was grinning cheerfully. "Oh, I get it now; that's pretty interesting!" _He... He believed it..._ Tsuna's head sunk to the small table in front of him with a blank gaze, as if tired. Meanwhile, Tsuna's lie took a bit to process for Mammon.

 **. . .**

... Simply amazing, he concluded. _What a complete idiot._ 'Bad at lying' was definitely going to be added to the list of things Tsuna was terrible at; it was a pretty big list already... As much as Mammon would have liked to deny Tsuna's words, he could not do so without compromising Tsuna's credibility and, consequentially, his own. "If you do, stop asking stupid questions and get working." In other words, Mammon had been dubbed 'Mammon Junior'.

Tsuna was going to pay... _literally._ Yamamoto chuckled, as if somehow Mammon's words could be taken that lightly; Mammon's frown deepened. "Alright, alright," Yamamoto said in a carefree manner, "You've got it hard, huh, Tsuna?"

 _You have no idea,_ both Mammon and Tsuna thought at the exact same time, one with a blank look and the other with a troubled frown. "Uh, let's just focus on this problem, okay?" Tsuna suggested, not feeling up to answering Yamamoto's question in front of Mammon, much less informing him that Mammon was around not just to tutor him academically, but to tutor him in all possible areas so he could become a mafia boss.

"Gotcha," Yamamoto said, chuckling afterwards. "You're really diligent." In truth, Tsuna just didn't want Yamamoto questioning anything else: while oblivious, Yamamoto was also a very curious individual. Tsuna only smiled nervously in response before he saw Mammon suddenly standing from his seat and leaving. "Hmm? What's up?" Yamamoto asked.

Displeased, Mammon stopped in his tracks to answer Yamamoto. "Beyond the fact that you're annoying, nothing." With only those cold words, Mammon left the room, not even bothering to look back and notice the frown on Tsuna's face and Yamamoto's sheepish smile.

Mammon was a fairly patient person: if something could, eventually, bring him benefits, he would gladly wait and persevere until said benefits would show themselves to him. However, Yamamoto's presence in Tsuna's house held him no benefits, serving only for Tsuna to have a more entertaining time; Mammon couldn't care less about Tsuna having fun. Even so, Mammon was admittedly out of options: he could stay with Tsuna and Yamamoto, be downstairs with Nana, or aimlessly wander Namimori.

... Needless to say talking with Nana Sawada was the last thing he wanted to do (that would be like talking to Yamamoto, Mammon figured; they were both cheerful and oblivious) and Mammon never liked aimless wandering: things had to be done for a purpose, and he wasn't going to waste his time walking of all things. With that in mind, Mammon found that he was better off still being around Tsuna and Yamamoto, even if he found Yamamoto annoying; he had already reached that conclusion before he left Tsuna's bedroom.

So, instead of actually leaving like Tsuna had thought Mammon had done, Mammon was after something else, something that would at least make overseeing two idiots more tolerable:

Strawberry milk.

* * *

 **. . .**

* * *

Meanwhile, Dino Cavallone had been pondering something while lying on a grassy hill near the Cavallone mansion, only for Reborn to suddenly jump on his stomach. **"AGH!"** he immediately stood up straight, a troubled expression on his face. "R-Reborn..." he muttered, seeing Reborn smirk at him. "You didn't have to do that."

"If you weren't just lazing around, that is," Reborn countered, "What are you doing here?" It hadn't been that long before Reborn returned from his trip to the Vongola Headquarters, having done more than just talking to the Ninth: in general, since he had gotten a chance to do that, Reborn talked to a few other people he knew, so he spent more time than Dino initially thought he would with the Vongola.

The time Reborn had been absent had been quite pleasant, Dino admitted; after all, there had been no Spartan training. Instead, he had gotten to just go outside, have fun... Unfortunately, such times wouldn't last forever. "Well, I was just thinking about what kind of guy this new boss candidate is," Dino answered with a smile, "You came over to the Vongola to check that out, didn't you? I just heard about it yesterday though: he's from Japan, apparently?"

"Yup," Reborn casually answered, "and the son of Iemitsu Sawada to boot; must have way more potential than a loser like you."

... While Dino was still smiling, it had a considerably weak, forced smile, he noted. "Don't say that, Reborn..." he muttered, though it seemed more like he was pleading instead, "I'm practically done with your training, so I'm not like how I was before." Only with those words did Dino cheer up, a prideful smile on his face. "I've gladly accepted my position as the Cavallone boss."

"That still doesn't mean you don't trip on your own shoe laces whenever you don't have any subordinates around you," Reborn pointed out, unfazed by Dino's words; in fact, he was still smirking. "Or make a mess while eating, or accidentally spill water over every electronic device you go near, or hit yourself with your whip in the middle of a ba—"

Embarrassed that Reborn's list was somehow very long, Dino spoke up, "Those are all coincidences—"

"Don't interrupt me, Pipsqueak Dino," Reborn immediately countered whilst jumping to kick Dino in the face, knocking him to the ground.

"Ow...!" Still on the ground, Dino caressed his face, the pain of Reborn's surprisingly very strong kick lingering on there. "You really don't hold back, do you?"

That hadn't been an actual question, seeing as its answer was too obvious: Reborn never held back when it came to kicking his pupil in the face. "Hmph, you've still got a lot to learn; no wonder I wasn't pulled out of tutoring you for the Vongola boss candidate." While Dino had grown considerably under Reborn's tutelage, it all amounted to nothing when none of his subordinates were in the vicinity: that was a fatal flaw, so Reborn could not say his work was done just yet.

"Now that you mention it, I did hear he got a tutor: what kind of guy is he?" Dino asked, honestly curious. Rumors would usually spread fast within the Vongola and its alliances, but it was admittedly impossible for him or anyone else to have even known of the Vongola boss candidate's tutor; Reborn just happened to be a special case.

Being the strongest hitman in the world, Reborn had many ways to gather information though, as expected, they weren't the most conventional ones: Dino dreaded the next time he would see a great variety of bugs stuck to Reborn's body, somehow providing him with information. "That's the strange part: he's from the Varia," Reborn answered, a somewhat serious expression on his face. Naturally, Reborn didn't like the Varia: after all, they had attempted to overthrow the Ninth, one of the only people he truly respected and admired; there was simply no way Reborn wouldn't find them untrustworthy.

"The Varia?!" Dino reacted, seemingly surprised. Unlike Reborn, who knew the tutor's name, Dino had immediately imagined the only person he had gotten to know from the Varia teaching the poor child that was the next Vongola boss: Squalo Superbi.

 _"Vooi, run around this whole area twenty times or I'll cut you apart, ya hear me?!"_

 _"Y-y-y-y-yes, Squalo-san, right away, just please don't slash me with that sword!"_

 _"It's Master Squalo to you, brat!"_

 _"O-of course, Master Squalo!"_

 _"Well, what are you waiting for? Get runnin'!"_

 _"Y-yes, Master Squalo, right away, Master Squalo!"_

 _"Voooooi, just fucking do it already!"_

 _"AAAAAAAAH—"_

... Right afterwards, Dino regretted that mental image and started feeling immense pity for the Vongola boss candidate. "He's sure got it rough," Dino remarked with narrowed eyes, choosing to hide his disturbed expression in favor of not revealing what he had just thought to Reborn, who would surely hit him again if he were to find out.

"He's got it more than 'just rough': who knows what the Varia could be planning." Having not even put that any thought, Dino found himself somewhat surprised at Reborn's words: as he was implying, the Varia was untrustworthy. While Dino couldn't speak for all members, he was at least aware that Squalo was completely loyal to Xanxus, and Xanxus, who was frozen at the time, wanted to become the Tenth Vongola boss.

There was no way whoever was teaching the Varia was there with good intentions, Dino noted, a more serious expression on his face. "As an ally of the Vongola, I can't just let that slide without at least checking on whether that tutor's actually doing his job," he said, somewhat determined.

Reborn smirked. "That's the spirit," Reborn stated, though it seemed like he was pulling out a gun, "But, for now, I've got to get your training back on track; after that, we can go check on the boss candidate."

... Dino immediately stood up and took a few steps back, hiding his fear with a nervous smile. "So it's come to this, huh?" One bullet had been shot literally centimeters from Dino's feet, making him flinch. "I should've known...!"

With that, he ran away, wondering if the Vongola boss candidate also had to suffer through the sort of training Reborn would give him.

... However, judging by how unique Reborn was, it was already obvious that his answer was a big, fat 'no'.

* * *

 **. . .**

* * *

On the next day, Tsuna left the house with a smile on his face: that had started becoming commonplace with Tsuna, so Mammon paid it no mind... not that he cared the first times he noticed either. If anything, at first, he just mentally took note of that and left it alone; Tsuna's happiness was nothing he was concerned with.

However, ever since Tsuna had started encountering Yamamoto while walking to school, a rather unpleasant request had been made by him: so as to get Yamamoto not to ask too much questions about Mammon's actual form, and anything related to the terrible lies Tsuna had told him, Mammon was to accompany him either without being seen or with the form he would assume while at Tsuna's house (with the exception of his bedroom... if Yamamoto hadn't started coming over). Hearing Yamamoto's chuckle, Mammon glanced at him with a frown. "You're a really dedicated tutor! At least, I don't think most of them follow their students around like this."

This time, Mammon was visible as Tsuna's home tutor, meaning he had to tolerate Yamamoto talking to him. "It's just out of convenience: I usually go out to sightsee anyway, so I might as well accompany Tsuna while he's going to school." Naturally, Mammon crafted a perfect lie to counter Yamamoto's words, though he was already not so pleased with having to bother.

Perhaps he should've just made himself look like some sort of bird and followed Tsuna around that way, though even then, he would have to tolerate hearing Yamamoto talk in general: despite that, Mammon was completely sure that was better than having Yamamoto strike up a conversation with him. "That makes sense!" Yamamoto said, smiling at Mammon.

... Mammon had never thought a day would come where he would wish to be in the company of every single one of Varia's rowdy members, but it seemed like it had actually come: Mammon just could not stand overly-cheerful, kind, naive and, most of all, oblivious people; he'd dislike them even more if they happened to be idealistic.

Needless to say Tsuna and Yamamoto fit in with many of the criteria for Mammon to not stand them, but he had to deal with them anyway, so he figured he had no choice and simply resigned to that being a mere obstacle he would have to overcome as a consequence of accepting a paid job: that way, at least, he wouldn't feel as annoyed about it. After all, it had all been for money.

"I've finally been able to catch up to you!" Everyone immediately turned around from the female voice they had heard behind them, though Tsuna looked visibly disturbed.

Meanwhile, Yamamoto was looking at her curiously with a smile on his face. "Who are you?" he asked, "A friend of Tsuna's?" _No, that's definitely not a friend of mine...!_ Tsuna thought, staring blankly at the girl he recognized as Haru.

"I'm not that person's friend!" Haru immediately denied, "He's a suspicious, _dangerous_ individual who traps babies in his own house!" She pointed at Tsuna accusingly, though Yamamoto only chuckled as if he had heard a funny joke.

Meanwhile, Tsuna was even more shocked at how strange Haru happened to be. _How did it come to that...?!_ "And why would he do something like that?" Yamamoto asked, playing along.

"Because he's _dangerous_!" Haru promptly answered with a serious gaze, making Tsuna want to hide somewhere far, far away from her. _That's not a proper answer!_ "That's why I, Haru Miura, can't let him go!"

 _It looks like she does try to follow us evey day,_ Mammon remarked with a frown, _Good grief, how troublesome._ Since he could always notice her, Mammon would use illusions to make sure she wouldn't bother them: however, having gotten sick of doing so, Mammon decided to test the waters; he immediately regretted that decision. "That's just your assumption," Mammon countered, "Don't bother us over your childish delusions."

"Hahii, they're not childish delusions; they're the truth!" Haru defended, "I saw Tsuna-san leading poor Mammon-chan to his home many times already, after all! There is no way he isn't taking advantage of him!" Although Haru did seem quite determined and passionate while saying that, everyone else's reactions did not at all match that.

Yamamoto still thought she was telling a joke, Tsuna was incredulous and Mammon was annoyed. "That's not it at all!" Tsuna protested, "Why would you even think that?!"

"Then what was it?" Haru questioned, glaring at Tsuna as if he were her nemesis or something of the sort. "If he isn't related to you then why else would he come to your house beyond you manipulating the poor baby?! Besides, I haven't seen him at all lately: now, you've been walking with this _mysterious_ man," she pointed to Mammon while saying that, "and this _happy_ -looking classmate of yours." Afterwards, she pointed to Yamamoto. "What did you do to Mammon-chan?!"

 _How do you even know our names?!_ Tsuna thought, finding it creepy that she was able to memorize it from their first encounter, or even during the time she had been stalking them, if she had been doing so (something within Tsuna told him that was exactly why she knew their names). "Nothing, that's what I've been telling you!" Tsuna exclaimed, a troubled frown on his face.

"I can't believe you!" Haru said, "You're not trustworthy!" _Ugh, this conversation isn't getting anywhere...!_ Needless to say Tsuna was somewhat frustrated, wanting to go to school already. Unfortunately, he had a girl like Haru in his way, who he had thought wouldn't bother him again.

After all, she hadn't come in the past days: why would she suddenly do so today? "But he's telling the truth," Yamamoto said in a fairly carefree manner, "At first, I couldn't really understand what you were saying, but you're referring to Mammon's little brother, aren't you? Mammon's actually this guy," Yamamoto pointed at Mammon for a while as he said that, "and he happens to have a little brother called 'Mammon Junior'; kind of confusing, right? Since he's Tsuna's home tutor, Tsuna's also friends with his little brother."

... Somehow, Yamamoto had managed to salvage the situation without even knowing it; Tsuna stared at him in awe. _Nice, Yamamoto! I never thought his obliviousness would come in handy..._ "Hahi?" Meanwhile, Haru seemed confused, processing Yamamoto's words. "Y-you mean, Mammon-chan was actually this mysterious person's brother all along?!"

"Exactly," Mammon responded, taking advantage of Yamamoto's explanation. Who knew the Mammon Junior thing would actually come in handy? At least Yamamoto had been useful for something, Mammon noted. "And since I tutor Tsuna, he frequently comes to his house; not that this is any of your business."

For a while, Haru stood there with an incredulous expression on her face, staring at Mammon.

 **. . .**

"Hahii, I'm so sorry!" Haru bowed three times as she apologized, looking genuinely regretful and surprised at the same time. "Since Tsuna-san acted so strangely when I first encountered him, I had no idea he was actually one of Mammon-chan's friends!" I _was the one who acted strangely...?!_ Tsuna countered in his mind, a blank look on his face. "Please forgive me; I didn't mean to cause you any trouble! I simply wanted to protect Mammon-chan's _pure_ and angelic heart, and become his friend!"

To make it worse for Tsuna, it seemed like the remorse she had was only for Mammon's, or rather, his apparent brother's sake, and not Tsuna's. "He doesn't need any more friends," Mammon bluntly told her, "especially one like you, so don't get in over your head with protecting him or whatever; you've only wasted our time." Preferrably, after those words, Haru would leave and never bother Tsuna and Mammon ever again: as far as Mammon was concerned, Haru was nothing but a nuisance.

... Haru sniffed. "F..." Tsuna started feeling bad for her, while Yamamoto wondered what she was doing; Mammon didn't care. Her head cast downward, making no one be able to see her expression, Haru's fists shook. Somehow, Tsuna noted, he had been able to pick up on that and, as far as he could see, Haru seemed sad. "Forgive me; I'm really sorryyyy!" Haru had started dashing in the opposite direction from everyone as she shouted that out, seemingly wailing in absolute sadness afterwards, that sound echoing in the distance...

 _Looks like I finally got rid of her; good grief..._ Mammon thought, still showing himself disinterested in the situation. "I wonder if she's alright," Yamamoto said, looking somewhat curious: she seemed sad to him, but he could never be too sure without actually seeing her.

"Probably not..." Tsuna replied, still staring off to where Haru had run towards. _Well, I guess I won't see her again,_ he thought. While that was a good thing, he didn't really want to hurt her feelings just so she could leave.

Even so, it couldn't be helped with someone like Mammon around, Tsuna figured. "Just get going already; you're really going to be late otherwise," Mammon said, wanting to get all events related to Haru past him. Besides, punctuality was important: at least, no one in the Varia would be late to anything, no matter what.

"Gotcha!" The fact that Yamamoto had been the one who responded to Mammon made him feel slightly annoyed, but Mammon soon brushed that off and just started walking. Due to that, both Tsuna and Yamamoto followed, both looking somewhat thoughtful as they caught up to Mammon.

It had _really_ been the last they'd see of Haru...

* * *

 **. . .**

* * *

... Or so they thought. " _Hello_!" Just when the three had arrived to Tsuna's house, Haru happened to have somehow answered the door, already inside.

"H-Haru?!" The first to outwardly react was Tsuna, whose eyes had widened in shock. "What are you doing here?!" _She's in my house...! Why?!_ Had his mother let her in?

If so, Tsuna wouldn't be surprised, but he still wished Nana were more careful. While the three slowly stepped inside, Haru responded in a determined manner, "I'm here to make up for my mistakes!" Both Tsuna and Yamamoto looked at her confusedly when she said that while Mammon frowned, annoyed already. _Hm, this girl truly is troublesome; she can't even go away properly._

"Mistakes?" Yamamoto questioned. As far as he had seen from yesterday, Haru had simply misunderstood a few details; those weren't mistakes in his mind.

Haru nodded, still somewhat serious. "Yes, mistakes, errors, wrongdoings! I've committed them all!" _How dramatic,_ both Tsuna and Mammon commented, though only Tsuna had a blank gaze as he did so. "I took Tsuna-san for a dangerous person that would take advantage of the pure and angelic hearts of babies, when he was just taking care of Mammon-san's brother! Not only that, but I disrespected Mammon-san by implying he didn't take care of him!" Haru explained, almost teary-eyed. However, right afterwards, she started smiling confidently, changing moods that quickly with her thoughts. "So, with that in mind, I have decided to make up for what I did and start our relationships over!"

 _What does she mean with that...?_ Tsuna thought, still fairly confused despite the explanation. Even so, before he could express that, his mother had approached them. "Welcome back! Dinner's already ready, all thanks to Haru-chan's help!" Nana said, seemingly in a good mood.

"It was _no problem_!" Haru cheerfully responded, proud that her efforts were acknowledged. "It was the least I could do for everyone!" She nodded, almost as if to assure her words further. _She's already getting along with mom...!_ Tsuna thought, somewhat alarmed at how easily she had been able to step right into his life.

The fact that Nana approved of her wasn't helping that in the least either. "Oh, there's dinner? Can I stay over?" Yamamoto asked, grinning at Haru and Nana in a carefree manner. _Yamamoto doesn't seem to care..._ That fact disheartened Tsuna slightly; the only person that was on his side was Mammon.

"Of course you can!" Nana said, "You're always welcome here!" She had also gotten used to Yamamoto's presence after a while, and thought he made for a great friend of Tsuna's, who didn't have one before. Tsuna making friends was something she had never expected, so the fact that it was indeed happening made her have more hope for Tsuna than she used to: before, she thought Tsuna would be able to accomplish nothing. After all, he was good at nothing.

However, ever since Mammon appeared, things had begun to change; needless to say she did not regret the decision of hiring him at all. "What are you planning to do here after this?" Meanwhile, Mammon had gone straight to the point, searching for ways to avoid having her around him as much as possible in his mind. "After dinner, he'll have to study; you won't have anything to do afterwards." In other words, she was better off leaving, or so he wanted her to understand.

It didn't seem like it worked how it was supposed to. "Study?!" Haru questioned with wide eyes, somewhat surprised. "I can help you with that too, if you'd like!" Her determined expression, combined with her confident smile, indicated how much Mammon had actually made her want to stick around more. _I'll have to think of something else..._ "Tsuna-san is from Namimori Middle school, right? I happen to be from Midori Middle school, which is actually an elite school so you can leave it to me; I can definitely be useful to you!"

... Mammon connected the dots: if she was at an elite school, one that would require really high grades to enter, it meant Haru could actually help Tsuna, making Mammon have to do even less work than he did before. Even though she was annoying, unlike Yamamoto, she did seem to have certain uses, and Mammon wasn't about to let them go to waste. Tsuna, seeing Mammon smirk, had a bad feeling about the situation. _Haru is in an elite school?! And wait, she wants to help me out...?!_

While Tsuna thought that, Mammon said, "It does seem like it. If you're that willing to help Tsuna study, then I'll have to take you up on that offer." While Mammon disliked annoying people, he found exploitable annoying people quite tolerable. "That way, I might just acknowledge you as someone worthy of being my little brother's friend."

Haru immediately brightened; Mammon's lie worked perfectly. Witnessing that, Tsuna couldn't help but stare blankly at the situation. He's _the actual baby though..._ "Of course!" she exclaimed cheerfully, only to turn to Tsuna. "Tsuna-san! It'll be my pleasure to work with you! Let's do our best!"

Admittedly surprised, Tsuna found himself with no particular answer to give. "Uh—" Before he could even do anything further, Haru was already shaking his hand and then focusing on Mammon again. _What, seriously?! I'm going to start studying with Haru?!_ As far as he knew, Haru was a middle school student; that was the extent of his knowledge on her. Due to that, he didn't feel something like that to be the best of choices, though that didn't mean he didn't trust her.

From the look in her eyes, straightforward and passionate, Tsuna could tell her intentions were genuine... somehow. Either way, he knew Haru wasn't going to do anything terrible, but he still felt somewhat hesitant. Meanwhile, Mammon took a step forward, almost as if to overshadow Tsuna. "I'll look forward to that then," Mammon said, "For now, I'm going to eat dinner since it's already done." After those words and still with a smirk, Mammon left the area, heading for the kitchen.

He had truly gotten someone who could actually make Tsuna stop complaining about him not explaining anything, and free of charge too: anything beneficial that was also free of charge was good in Mammon's mind, even if Haru happened to be annoying; he could handle that. However, that logic hadn't even popped to Tsuna's mind so, with a blank gaze, he thought, _Somehow, even Mammon started approving Haru..._

* * *

 **. . .**

* * *

At the Sasagawa residence, Kyoko welcomed her brother home, who had just come from Boxing club practice. "Oh, Kyoko! You look like you're in an extremely good mood!" Ryohei, her older brother, remarked with a curious expression. While he was oblivious to most things, he would usually attempt to pay attention to Kyoko, so he could also tell whenever Kyoko was sad or very happy... sometimes.

Either way, Ryohei would try extremely hard. "Hmm? I guess I am..." Meanwhile, Kyoko hadn't even noticed she was like that today, but she was aware that she had been in somewhat of a good mood lately; after all, it hadn't been the first time anyone pointed that out. "You know, I have this classmate of mine and before, his grades weren't very good, and he would always seem down in general," she explained, "But now, he's been studying really hard, and I've seen him around another classmate, having fun; I just feel really happy for him, I suppose."

Kyoko had never been able to handle someone clearly in distress or not in a good situation: whether indirectly or directly, she felt the need to do something for them. Unfortunately, in Tsuna's case, he seemed to shy away from her a lot, so she thought he didn't really want anything from her: besides, when the whole school practically upheld his infamy and Tsuna not having any qualities for her to defend, she couldn't really do anything for him, no matter how popular she was (not that she was aware of said popularity). "Is that why you're like that? Makes me wonder who that guy is to the extreme..."

"His name is Tsunayoshi Sawada," Kyoko informed, "Like I said, he's in my class." She wasn't exactly sure whether her brother being curious about a classmate of hers was a good thing or not, especially when considering his habit of inviting others to his Boxing club. Even so, Kyoko wasn't just going to stop Ryohei from doing what he felt like doing, which was why she had told him the details he would need.

However, she did hope Ryohei wouldn't trouble Tsuna in the same way he had troubled many others. "Sawada, huh?" Ryohei briefly wondered if he knew of someone with that surname: despite Tsuna being well-known for how terrible at everything he was, Ryohei's mind did not think of him at all. If anything, he just didn't even know him in general; Ryohei was not one to pay attention to such things. "I guess I'll check on that guy someday!" he concluded and grinned excitedly at Kyoko. "For now, I'm extremely hungry! What's for dinner, Kyoko?!"

Kyoko giggled, having somewhat expected that sort of reaction from her brother already. While Ryohei had told her he would see Tsuna 'someday', Kyoko wondered if that would be true: it honestly seemed more likely that Ryohei would forget about Tsuna entirely, and Kyoko did not feel the need to remind him either. Although if he truly were to check on Tsuna, she figured, things would become quite... extreme, and not even she would know what would come from that.

... In an optimistic fashion, Kyoko decided to hope things would go smoothly.

* * *

 **Author's Notes:**

* * *

... And so Haru becomes a recurring character...? Omg I hope I didn't make her OOC: in general, she's the kind of person who can feel a range of emotions in a short amount of time (mostly in an exaggerated manner), so I kind of struggled since Haru didn't fall in love with Tsuna. Instead, she just wants to make up for her mistakes and becomes friends, I guess. Isn't that just rare? This story really just makes canon be completely different.

Anyway, Mammon getting annoyed by Yamamoto: Mammon just strikes me as the type of person who can get pretty annoyed at chipper people, especially when they're idiots (in his perspective); however, he's also a level-headed individual. Due to that, he can tolerate a fair amount of stuff, like, for example, Haru when she proved herself useful: while Mammon strikes me as the type to get annoyed at chipper people, he's also the kind of guy that will totally use people for his benefit.

Dat Dino moment though...! Seriously, why is Dino such a great character for comedy? He's so cool (being strong and reliable) yet awkward (being super clumsy without his subordinates) at the same time, it's just amazing: the fact that he can't act as cool when around Reborn further accentuates this fact. Also, when he imagined Squalo training Tsuna: it's not exactly how it'd happen, but that's Dino's imagination, not mine ^^'

... Despite that, I _actually made it happen._ No, I'm not joking, I actually wrote a spin-off story about what would it be like if Squalo were the home tutor, and it's going with as much force as this one: it's actually a thing, seriously. I'm going to publish it with this target and it's gonna be glorious, believe me: the beginning might be a little like this series', but the rest is wildly different because Squalo is Squalo and omg I'm just having so much fun with it aaaaaaah—

Uh, whatever the case, look forward to the next target? And hopefully the next target of that new story... ;D


	10. Target 8

**First Words:**

* * *

Since the last Target, this story got 3 favorites and 7 followers! Thank you 8D Anyway, as you can see, I've finally uploaded this Target... Blame Undertale, not me. While I still have inspiration for this story, the fact that I hadn't been writing it (or anything KHR-related) in a while kind of made me a bit rusty when it comes to its writing style. Either way, I don't think that'll affect much, especially because I was almost done with the Target when I took a break from writing KHR (so I didn't have that much to write to begin with).

... Basically, yeah, blame Undertale for this, not me (and go play that game, it's great). Enjoy...? ^^

* * *

 **Target 8: Don't Over-do It! Haru as Only a Friend  
**

* * *

At his office in the Vongola Headquarters, the Ninth was expecting someone.

Loudly and dramatically, the door was slammed open, though that failed to surprise the Ninth. _**"YOU GOT A MEMBER OF THE VARIA TO TUTOR MY SON?!"**_ After all, the person he was expecting happened to be Iemitsu Sawada, Tsuna's father. He had a an exaggeratedly helpless expression on his face, completely unbefitting of a CEDEF leader: however, some would say that his eccentricities were his best qualities, like the Ninth.

"You've only heard of this now?" the Ninth asked, genuinely curious though still wearing a kind smile. "Perhaps rumors don't spread in the CEDEF as fast as they spread within the alliances..." Since the CEDEF considered itself separate from the Vongola, that was actually likely: despite that, they really only functioned like a more reclused Vongola alliance the Ninth could always count on, so there wasn't a big difference.

Iemitsu's eyes glittered in the light the sun provided through the windows, seemingly teary-eyed. "You know that's not the problem; they're the _Varia...!_ Who knows what they could be planning with my little Tsuna...?!" It then struck him that for said Varia tutor to function better as a home tutor, he would have to stay in the Sawada residence, as in, live with Tsuna. And Nana. Having processed that, Iemitsu froze, actually disturbed. "And my lovely Nana... Oh God, I've got to go back to Japan; Nana could be in danger! Nanaaaa...!"

"Calm down, Iemitsu," the Ninth attempted to reassure him, seeing as he was actually breaking down at that point (instead of exageratting his reaction). "While I see why you are concerned for your family, I have tasked him, Mammon, to do this for a reason. Besides, I assure you the Varia would never do a reckless move such as harming Tsunayoshi-kun at this point in time." However, he wasn't guaranteeing Tsuna and Nana's safety, and he hadn't denied that the Varia could be plotting against him either: he would be lying if he were to do so, after all, and he did not want to lie to a long-standing friend such as Iemitsu.

As he had told others who had asked why he chose Mammon as Tsuna's home tutor, his choice was quite the gamble, so he could not assure his only heir's safety: that admittedly had his Guardians on edge as well, as they could barely understand the Ninth's thought process with such a plan. "Well, you're right there, but..." Iemitsu, having deemed the topic too serious to mess around with, decided he was better off cooling down, as even his wife could be in danger: when it came to such matters, Iemitsu would not joke around, and he was almost completely sure the Varia member sent to the Sawada residence had no intentions of actually teaching his son. "This is too risky, even for you: you cannot possibly believe that Varia member, Mammon or so you called him, will be well-behaved for that much longer, depending on what he's plotting."

"I would beg to differ," the Ninth said, "Xanxus... is not active any longer, and hasn't been for years: if they were so desperate, they would have already moved. Without Xanxus free from his ice, the Varia will never act, as there would be no worth in doing so." He had to utter the same words to his Guardians as well, as it seemed most were so paranoid they believed the Varia would immediately start killing everything the moment Mammon would be sent off to tutor Tsuna. However, the Ninth knew better: the Varia was not a foolish group; in fact, most were quite intelligent.

With that in mind, without its central piece, which was Xanxus, the Varia would not kill Tsuna seeing as that would only doom it further. "And what if they found a way to free him...?" Iemitsu questioned, a completely serious expression on his face as he did so. In his mind, it was because the Varia was not a foolish group that he was thinking of every possibility: no Varia member would accept a mission that would clearly go against their loyalties.

Even so, there was also the fact that if they were to refuse, they could be seen in an even more unfavorable light: after all, refusing such a mission would only further show to the Vongola how untrustworthy they were. "Trust me, if they are fine with sending one of their elite members to tutor the next Vongola boss, they have discovered no plan to free Xanxus." Mammon was the Varia's illusionist, and an illusionist was a fairly convenient asset for all sorts of missions: if the Varia had approved of him leaving, it either meant they wanted to go about their plans the hard way, or that they had no plan to begin with.

... For many reasons, the Ninth was certain it was the latter option. "I don't think it's that simple," Iemitsu asserted, unconvinced. It was practically his duty to make sure the Ninth was making the right decisions, so his doubts were perfectly justified. Even so, that didn't mean Iemitsu was not worried: in fact, more than out of it being his job, he was being more cautious because he was worried about the people closest to him, which was only natural.

"These are, of course, complicated matters," the Ninth responded, "However, that doesn't mean we can't phrase them in a simple manner: what I have done is truly risky, and the reprecussions are truly great. Even so, despite all of this, I find myself going through with it regardless because of simple things, like faith: I believe in your son, Iemitsu, and I think you should believe in him as well." Iemitsu's eyes widened, gazing at the Ninth's eyes, full of life despite his old age.

The one thing that would never wither with age was definitely his convictions, and that would always be proved every time Iemitsu would visit him: he could almost see flames in his eyes, somehow complimenting the kind, reliable smile on the Ninth's face. It was a dignified, wonderful sight, no matter how many times Iemitsu would lay eyes on it. Beyond that, he found his faith in Tsuna something to ponder about: why would he claim to have faith in Tsuna, rather than Mammon, the one he had sent? The Ninth hadn't just come up with everything out of a whim, even if said plan was undoubtedly risky.

... While he still held worry within him, Iemitsu also felt the need to witness what the Ninth was attempting to accomplish. "I believe him just fine; I always did," Iemitsu countered with a smile, "After all, he's my son! If he takes after me, he can do anything!"

* * *

 **. . .**

* * *

As strange as it was, Mammon had started approving of Tsuna's friendships. "And that's how you do it! Did you follow that or is there a need for me to explain it all over again?" Haru asked, peeking at Yamamoto's somewhat scribbled notebook and Tsuna's completely blank one.

Yamamoto chuckled. "You're really smart, Haru! I think I got that; you just do what's in here, right?" Yamamoto pointed at a formula and an explanation for how to apply it in his textbook, a carefree smile on his face. For him, figuring out every exercise was actually fun, but he definitely preferred sports to that (particularly baseball). Either way, Yamamoto didn't struggle much despite his grades, only having low scores from not paying attention in classes.

"I, I didn't..." Tsuna muttered, looking somewhat helpless. Glancing at the textbook and skimming through the part Yamamoto had pointed at, Tsuna found himself even more confused. _This is really hard..._ Tsuna then glanced at Mammon, who was sitting on Tsuna's bed as if it were his while doing his favorite pastime: counting his money.

Needless to say Mammon had been working (even) less than usual after Haru decided she would help. _Now I'm starting to get why he approved of Haru so much..._ While Tsuna wasn't the best at anything school-related, he could at least tell Mammon never wanted to tutor him: from that, it was fairly easy to assume he was just using Haru. Tsuna looked down at his blank notebook while Haru pretended to almost faint in panic. "Hahi?! What didn't you understand specifically?! I can go over that again!"

With a saddened expression, Tsuna looked back at Haru who was standing up unlike him and Yamamoto. "Uh..." It really hadn't been Haru's fault he couldn't understand; it was his own. After all, Tsuna hadn't understood any explanation properly since Elementary school, meaning that he probably lacked the basic knowledge to solve anything in Middle school: how he had even passed those years before was more out of pity (and sheer effort to have any test he scored over fourty by the end of the year) than anything. "I'm sorry..."

Despite his vague answer, Haru had gotten exactly the meaning of what he was trying to say. "Hahii... Everything again?" It had happened more than once, so Tsuna couldn't help but feel even more guilty over the fact that Haru had to deal with someone as No-Good as him. It wasn't like he didn't know anything related to Math: the bare basics, at least, Tsuna was capable of doing and understanding; if anything, he was glad for that. Straightening up with a determined expression, Haru stated, "I'll do my best this time! I'll definitely get you to understand everything, no matter what!" With those words, Haru managed to confidently smile, wanting to lighten up the mood of the room and her own; she knew feeling down wasn't worth it.

"Y-you don't have to over-do it, you know?" Tsuna hadn't given much thought to those words, having instead taken note of a certain 'strain' in Haru's actions: despite still acting in an energetic fashion, Haru was somewhat tired, Tsuna noted.

Haru immediately shook her head disapprovingly. "Don't worry about me; I'm 100% okay!" She hopped and twirled around as if to show just how well she was feeling, looking cheerful as she did so. "Besides, I've agreed to do this to make up for my mistakes, so that's exactly what I'll do!"

Admittedly, Tsuna was still unconvinced. However, above all, he just didn't want to trouble Haru in such a way: really, Mammon was supposed to be the one tutoring him, not Haru. Not only that, but no one had told Haru that she needed to do such a thing but Mammon, and he would surely never let her think that she had already done enough work. Due to the fact that Haru was clearly being used and over-worked by Mammon, Tsuna couldn't help but give her a saddened look. "But, it's not like you actually have to always teach me," Tsuna countered, glancing at Mammon, "Mammon is around too."

Mammon, who had been simply minding his own business, stored his money in his pocket in reaction to being referred to, staring at Tsuna with an apathetic expression. "We shouldn't trouble Mammon-san with these kinds of things!" Haru pouted, her arms crossed. _Tutoring me is his job...!_ Tsuna thought, yet despite the protest, he still felt immensely guilty for her current situation.

"Exactly," Mammon said, having picked up on Tsuna's obvious negativity towards his plans. "Haru offered to help: whether she's over-doing it or not is none of your business." He knew Tsuna would be against him, being the idealistic kid he was, but Mammon wasn't just going to stop exploiting Haru because of Tsuna's feelings towards the situation. The fact that Haru was so hard-working and naive was truly helping him out: rather than having to bother with Yamamoto and Tsuna constantly, Haru would be doing most of the talking, allowing for him to pass his time doing much more enjoyable activities.

With that in mind, Mammon had no intentions of letting Haru go. "As expected of Mammon-san: such cool words!" _He's just using you..._ Tsuna thought, finding the fact that Haru happened to admire Mammon somewhat to be depressing, especially when Mammon didn't care about her in the slightest. "Though, I am being useful, right? I'm surely not tired or anything, so...!"

"Oh, don't worry, you're doing great," Mammon reassured, a smirk on his face, "Keep it up." While his illusion had definitely looked towards her, Mammon hadn't actually bothered: if Tsuna had said she was over-doing it, she probably was. However, Mammon didn't want Tsuna to foil his plans in such a way, so he made use of his influence over her. He was aware that Haru had a certain degree of respect for him out of the events concerning her misunderstadings: from that, he could practically have her do whatever he wanted, though for the time being, he just wanted her to teach for him. "If anything, you should hurry up because you don't have much time left here and they haven't finished their homework yet."

Haru flinched, surprised. "Hahii, you're right! I'll get to that right away!" While Mammon had perceived that Tsuna was getting sick of Mammon's manipulation, Tsuna had been able to see through that as well, so he couldn't help but sigh dejectedly. _How can I make Mammon stop...?_ Tsuna glanced at Yamamoto, who was staring at Haru curiously. In his head, he found the fact that Tsuna had brought up Haru over-exerting herself strange to begin with: he hadn't even noticed it. However, he noted, Mammon had started acting much more distant to him ever since Haru had appeared, practically taking his place: he liked Mammon, so he found that somewhat unfortunate.

Well, both Tsuna and Yamamoto figured, regardless, they still had to finish what they were doing. Even so, while Yamamoto reached for his pencil, Tsuna started staring at Mammon with a grim expression on his face, already seeing that things wouldn't go well if this kept up...

* * *

 **. . .**

* * *

As the teacher practically dropped the test sheet on his table and quickly moved on, Tsuna curiously looked through it.

... He immediately stopped at the upper right corner of the paper, where the number '62' was written in red. _I... I actually got a good grade...!_ Soon enough, Tsuna was staring at the number in awe, not even bothering to check the rest. _This is the first time..._ In Middle school, Tsuna had never gotten such a good score, finding everything too hard to pick up on.

However, Tsuna's gaze turned blank. _It was all thanks to Mammon's cheating though..._ Due to that, despite the fact that he had gotten such good grades (in his standards), he could not feel much pride in them. While he had become able to understand slightly more than before, Tsuna doubted that would be enough for achieving a score over 30. To make things worse, because of his guilt over Haru being manipulated by Mammon, Tsuna hadn't been able to concentrate at all lately, feeling mostly anxiety over seeing her in his room again to teach him.

That was Mammon's job, not hers: helping Tsuna was one thing, but basically replacing Mammon was a completely different matter. Tsuna glanced towards the window, having a feeling Mammon was nearby: if only he could tell him what he thought of his actions right then and now, but he was in the middle of classes, left only to focus on the teacher who was beginning to correct the test and to gaze at how much he was still No-Good from the fake test score he had received.

The awe of it had completely disappeared; if anything, Tsuna felt depressed. He felt no pride from his cheating, and he couldn't even feel pride in his improvement, all stemming from Mammon's manipulation. _I didn't agree to this..._

He could not even bring himself to look towards Kyoko or Yamamoto, who had been curiously staring at him due to his sudden disposition...

* * *

 **. . .**

* * *

Ever since Haru had entered his life, she had started accompanying Tsuna quite often. On this particular day, Haru was walking with Tsuna and Yamamoto to school, having claimed that her own school was close enough to theirs to do so. For the most part, Haru just wanted to go with them, as she hadn't gotten any friends in her school: she wasn't close to anyone there, at least not to the extent of even hanging out with them. "Now that I think about it, I haven't seen Mammon-san's baby brother at all lately; did something happen?"

"Huh...?!" Tsuna immediately uttered, reminding himself of the fact that Haru had a strange desire to befriend Mammon. Naturally, so he wouldn't have to deal with her, Mammon would always put up the illusion of Tsuna's home tutor whenever she was around, so the aforementioned tutor's 'little brother' had not been seen in the slightest by anyone but Tsuna. "He..." _What should I say, what should I say...?!_ He wished Mammon were around to lie for him but Mammon happened to be invisible at the time, though definitely following him.

Unfortunately, Tsuna had no idea of this. "H-he came back to his parents!" Tsuna improvised, seemingly panicked. "Since, you know, he actually lives with his parents abroad, a-and all that...!" Lying never did come naturally to Tsuna: it just sat better with him to say the truth, though he was also aware that sometimes, a white lie was necessary.

"Really?" Yamamoto questioned in a carefree manner. "I didn't know that; I thought he lived around here." After all, in his mind, Mammon was Tsuna's assistant, and Tsuna wouldn't want to get an assistant that would have to be abroad for the most part. With that, Yamamoto immediately assumed that Mammon being Tsuna's assistant was nothing more than some game.

Although Tsuna felt quite nervous at first, the lie he had told was actually fairly convincing, especially due to how obvious it was that Mammon was not Japanese (if the name wasn't good enough to guess that). Even so, the mere fact that he had lied was enough to put him slightly on edge, as he said, "W-well, he doesn't." More than to confirm such a fact to Yamamoto, Tsuna had uttered that to reassure he hadn't made a mistake somewhere that would make them suspect him.

"Hahii?! So he's not in Japan right now?!" Meanwhile, Haru was staring at Tsuna in shock, almost as if someone had stabbed her in the chest. Figuratively, they had, at least in Haru's perspective: that had not been something Mammon told her about. _Why didn't he...?_ There was no discernible reason as to why Mammon wouldn't mention his little brother to Haru, especially since she was so obviously eager to see and befriend him again.

Besides, one of the supposed advantages of helping Mammon out was that perhaps Mammon's little brother could approve of her: if he wasn't around, what was the point? Unless... _It can't be...!_ "Seems like it," Yamamoto said, giving Haru a sympathetic smile. While he wasn't very perceptive, he had at least been able to tell Haru really wanted to be friends with Mammon's little brother. "Well, don't worry too much about it!" To further lift her spirits, Yamamoto grinned. "It's not like he's gone forever; you'll see him again eventually!"

"Y-yeah!" Although Tsuna found it unlikely Mammon would ever show himself to Haru (in his real form), he did not at all want to see Haru sad. It was already terrible that she was being used and manipulated by Mammon, so having her in low spirits because of him would be even worse. Besides, he thought Haru was a good person: while certainly quirky, Haru never had any ill intent in her actions, and Tsuna could see that. Due to that, he could only feel guiltier for still letting Mammon's scheme go on. "He visits from time to time, you know!"

However, to improve Haru's mood, he did have to dig a deeper hole on the situation he wanted to stop. Was that truly worth it? Even if it wasn't, Tsuna had no choice: he couldn't just tell Haru the truth, as it was too unbelievable to be taken seriously. "R-really...?" Haru uttered, giving Tsuna quite the hopeful look; Tsuna's guilt weighed him down further. Meanwhile, Haru started smiling cheerfully, immediately retracting her initial suspicions of Mammon. "Thank goodness! You truly scared me there, Tsuna-san! Well, I'll just patiently wait for his return then; I look forward to it already!"

Tsuna chuckled nervously in an attempt to conceal his true feelings on the matter. "G-great...!" He glanced at Yamamoto, wanting to avoid the purely innocent glint in Haru's eyes. Afterwards, for a few seconds, Yamamoto gave him a look that merely indicated curiosity, but waved Tsuna's strange behavior off as just his imagination and smiled.

"Speaking of that, why do you even like Mammon's little brother that much in the first place?" Yamamoto asked, slightly changing the topic. It did still involve Mammon but Tsuna would at least not have to lie about anything else, which did somewhat clear his consciousness.

As Tsuna watched Haru's demeanor turn proud, he stared at her blankly, already bracing himself for something nonsensical. "That would be obvious! Babies such as him possess not only the _heart_ and _purity_ of angels, but also the ultimate form of cuteness! There is no way I wouldn't want to befriend someone that adorable!" Tsuna cringed. _If only you actually knew him..._

'Adorable' was the last word Tsuna would use to describe Mammon, especially when past trauma like tentacles would surge in his mind... While Tsuna was thinking something along those lines, Yamamoto chuckled. "That's pretty amazing, I gotta give you that! But I honestly think the whole cloak style makes him look cool instead of cute, just saying."

"More like mysterious," Tsuna argued, "I never know what he's thinking." Even then, Tsuna could sort of see the coolness Yamamoto was talking about, but having to deal with Mammon every day made him unable to completely agree. Besides, the fact that Mammon was so mysterious and hard to figure out was truly one of the things he thought most when it came to him, so he found a need to let that worry out.

After all, it seemed like Tsuna had a fairly good perception, but it somehow didn't work as well with Mammon. "That's precisely why he is so cute! Not being able to see what's underneath that hood makes it much, much better!" Haru almost seemed like she was stating an undeniable fact, though in a much more excitable manner. Even though it was one of her quirks, Tsuna found himself smiling at that: her child-like energy and proud determination were uplifting qualities, even if laced with strange traits.

It was a different kind of warmth, one that Yamamoto did not possess, but didn't need to in the first place: his was of carefree cheerfulness and reliable loyalty, which still made Tsuna's day a much better one. If anything, Tsuna, with a wondrous expression, could only liken these two types of 'warmth' with two different kinds of flames, burning with the same strength yet not in the same manner. "Guess you have a point," Yamamoto said, resigning fairly quickly to Haru's perspective with a carefree smile, seeing merit in it. "Still doesn't mean he isn't kinda cool though."

"Yes, yes, absolutely!" Haru also found merit in Yamamoto's perspective, so she nodded cheerfully in response to his words. "However...!" She turned to Tsuna immediately after saying that, pouting at him. "Tsuna-san, you have yet to confirm Mammon Junior-chan's undeniable cuteness in the same manner! It isn't like you disagree, right?"

Startled, Tsuna flinched before he resisted the urge to cringe at hearing 'Mammon Junior' actually being uttered by someone. Seeing he was being requested for approval in something he didn't actually agree with, Tsuna appeared visibly nervous. "Um..." He could see from Haru's perspective somewhat, but with Mammon's overall attitude, he could not bring himself to think of Mammon in any adorable light. "Could we just stop talking about this...?"

At the connotations behind those words, Haru gasped, while Yamamoto chuckled. Tsuna had been expecting those reactions, in a way, so he still kept the same nervous yet slightly troubled expression on his face as he stared at them. Even though Haru seemed shocked, Tsuna could actually detect no pressure from her, at least not the one Haru was succumbing to from having to tutor him every day. Instead, Haru seemed to actually have her energy, her gestures carrying a 'light' presence to them that Tsuna found himself happy to be able to discern.

... Before he knew it, Tsuna was smiling. Eventually, unable to stop that urge due to having finally relaxed from his own negativity, Tsuna started chuckling with Yamamoto. They might've had different reasons for doing so, but said reasons were genuine, making Haru only stare on confusedly. "Hahii?" Haru pouted, unable to figure out what had just happened. "Geez, why are you both laughing...?!" Haru had tried to rationalize Tsuna and Yamamoto's actions for a while, she truly did.

However, with the fun mood of the situation, and the fact that she herself wasn't actually angry, Haru ended up giggling as well.

* * *

 **. . .**

* * *

For possibly the first time in her life, Haru felt greatly apprehensive about her test score. She had always been academically gifted, so she would never doubt herself when it came to how good she would do on her tests: usually, without much effort, Haru would keep up with Midori Middle School's high standards. Besides, even when times did seem somewhat rough, Haru could always count on her father... for Math, of course.

However, the test she was going to receive was a History test. As the teacher approached Haru's desk, she tensed further, biting her lip to prevent any more weakness than that to appear from her. Not only was Midori Middle School demanding when it came to grades, it also happened to want its students with the best possible attitudes, Haru included. Due to that, school was not the best place to let her eccentricities out though, even then, other students would pick up on how different she was from them right away and she'd get ostracized, so it was a useless effort.

With time, Haru had realized that, making her stop pretending to be completely normal. Even so, she hadn't given up on keeping proper behavior while around school staff or within classrooms, which entailed being as polite as possible and not showing any weakness: with that in mind, nothing much had changed. Haru decided to look down at the table when the teacher reached her, seeing only a hand and a paper, one that she immediately recognized as her test sheet. "Haru Miura... I have no idea as to what caused this, but you must deal with it at once."

To her horror, '62' was written on the upper right corner. _Hahii, I knew it...!_ It was just as she imagined: her score was abysmal, in Midori Middle School standards. Haru could hear her classmates whisper among themselves but she tuned them out, knowing their words would only hurt her further. She did not want to cry inside a classroom: that would be unbecoming of her. Not only that, but she would trouble others with said emotions, which was just as unacceptable.

Haru thought back on why she had been able to predict her grade so easily: the first thing that popped to mind was, to her dismay, Mammon, Tsuna and Yamamoto. Admittedly, while constantly focusing on coming up with new methods for Tsuna and Yamamoto to learn knowledge she had already gone over a long time ago in her own school made her forget the newer things she had learned, and it wasn't like she had much time to study either due to that. In other words, Haru's own promises and favors had turned against her.

Needless to say it hurt. Her chest hurt from the guilt of not having been good enough to both be able to tutor Tsuna properly for Mammon and keep up with her classes at the same time. It hurt her from the sadness she would feel when having to show her father that kind of test score, especially since she had been able to get in the school not out of possessing connections or wealth, but out of sheer academical prowess; she knew he would be greatly disappointed in her. It hurt her... because that could imply she would have to separate herself from Tsuna, Yamamoto, Mammon, or basically the only people she had recently gotten on friendly terms with.

She did not want to leave them, and she certainly didn't want to do so while still having to compensate for her mistakes: she had told Tsuna and everyone she would be of use to them, and she did not want to see them disappointed as well. Holding back tears, Haru faced the teacher, wanting to outweight the sadness she felt with the determination to do much better than before.

... It wasn't working.

* * *

 **. . .**

* * *

"Strange," Mammon muttered, "That girl isn't here yet." By 'that girl', Mammon naturally meant Haru, who truly had yet to arrive. Yamamoto, having baseball practice, was unable to come over to Tsuna's house too, making Mammon be alone with Tsuna. "Do you know anything about this?"

Immediately, Mammon assumed Tsuna was at fault for the simple reason that he was against having Haru tutor him from the beginning. Tsuna had, in many instances, interfered with Mammon's plans, so it wouldn't be surprising if he had done so with this one. However, with a surprised expression, Tsuna shook his head. "Not at all! Was she supposed to be here?" While the answer to that question was obvious, Tsuna had the underlying hope that perhaps Haru had freed herself from Mammon's clutches, which was somewhat unlikely.

"Of course she was," Mammon responded, "She's been here almost every day, hasn't she?" While Tsuna's reaction had been enough for Mammon to know he actually hadn't done anything, it still mildly displeased Mammon that Tsuna wouldn't assume things that were obvious. _If she isn't here, then..._ Something must have happened, Mammon figured.

It was unfortunate, as Mammon did not want to bother with Haru's problems, whatever they happened to be. Hopefully she would recover from them on her own and she would come crawling back to the Sawada residence, though Mammon had started taking the worst case scenario into account as well. "Well, she's not supposed to," Tsuna countered, assuming a more serious expression from the implications of Mammon's words. "Instead of using Haru, how about you actually do your job?"

"Hmph, who are you to complain?" Mammon smirked. "If anything, shouldn't you be happy you've got a friend of yours teaching you? For someone so stupidly simple-minded like you, something like that should definitely be motivating you to learn."

"Seeing Haru suffer because of you doesn't make me happy at all, let alone motivate me!" Tsuna shouted whilst standing from the seat he had taken near the table, gazing at Mammon with sorrowful eyes. "Just... stop, Mammon. Stop this..."

Despite the clear emotion displayed by Tsuna, Mammon found himself completely unfazed. He already saw it coming: Mammon's previous words were nothing but taunts rather than truthful arguments. Even if he did decide to go out of his way to tell Tsuna the benefits of what he was doing, Mammon knew he wouldn't be understood, though he didn't particularly find a need to be understood either way. Besides, Mammon would not be moved by simple emotional responses, especially Tsuna's. "You wish," Mammon said, "I'm not about to do something as wasteful as that just because you don't like it. Or what? What will you do if I don't stop? Somehow, I doubt even you have an answer to that."

"I..." Tsuna's hands shook out of sheer stress, frustration, anger for his friend. He could barely articulate his answer properly, especially in light of the fact that Mammon was right: what would Tsuna do if he didn't stop? Tsuna never gave that much thought. In his mind, Mammon would stop manipulating Haru after his protests, as his actions were far too cruel for Tsuna to even conceive Mammon continuing with them. However, he had been too naive and, as he thought about it, someone like Mammon would never change his mind like that: at the very least, he knew Mammon well enough to comprehend that. "I—"

Before Tsuna could think of something, and before Mammon could witness Tsuna stutter an awfully foolish response, both heard the sound of the front door being opened. Immediately, both knew what that meant:

 _Haru...!_

 _That girl..._

Tsuna and Mammon faced the door, practically awaiting her arrival and putting their argument to an end. From the sudden quiet tension, different from the previous one, Tsuna gulped. Meanwhile, Mammon had already placed the illusion of the young man that was supposedly Tsuna's home tutor, staring at the door with narrowed eyes.

At the precise moment Tsuna saw the door knob turning, he flinced, but the moment the door actually opened and showed Haru entering the room, Tsuna's eyes widened in shock. "H-Haru...!" he shouted, absolutely worried for her. While Haru had a smile on her face, it was so strained Tsuna could not bear to gaze at it for too long without having a stinging pain in his chest. Not only that, but her eyes were also practically dead, distant, as if truly focused on nothing or without the energy to do so...

Tsuna glanced at Mammon, whose expression had not changed since he heard the front door. "Hahii...?" Haru reacted with a somewhat surprised and confused expression, the actual emotions shown not being strong enough to truly convey that. "Is anything wrong, Tsuna-san?" Despite asking that question, as if she did not actually want an answer, Haru continued speaking before Tsuna could even open his mouth, "Ah, it's because I'm late, isn't it?" Haru 'smiled cheerfully'. "If that's the case, there is no need to worry! I simply had business to take care of after school; I do happen to be in the Gymnastics club, after all!"

 _That's a lie,_ Tsuna immediately thought, a helpess expression on his face, _That's a lie...!_ "Haru, i-if you're tired, you can just—"

Shocking Tsuna further, Haru cut him off, saying, "Tired...? Me, Haru, tired? Don't be ridiculous, Tsuna-san! I'm just fine! I told you there was no need to worry!" _Haru..._

"You heard her," Mammon added, smirking. Tsuna could not even describe the sadness, the pain he felt when seeing that Mammon was actually amused at situation, simply because things weren't going like Tsuna would've wanted to. "If she says she's fine, you shouldn't force your baseless worrying on her."

"B-baseless..." Tsuna repeated, incredulous. After all, Tsuna had many reasons for thinking the way he did so having Mammon dismiss them, even if it was clearly on purpose, hurt him in many ways.

Mammon knew that, so he was still fairly amused. To him, the whole situation was good payback for Tsuna's attitude towards his plans, especially since he had gotten in his way so many times. Meanwhile, Haru seemed blissfully unaware of Tsuna's emotions, simply moving towards him 'energetically'. "Now that this has been taken care of, let's start from where we left off, alright...?" The kind smile she currently had; before, it was... genuine. "Basically, we were—"

 **"STOP!"** Now, it was but a mask, defiled in everything that made it what it truly was: a smile. "Stop, stop, _stop,_ Haru! This isn't right, and you know that!" Tsuna used to like that smile— He still did, actually. _But not like this..._ Not when Haru was using it in such a way, without her true energetic, childish, determined flare. If before, she shone like a flame, then now, said flame was slowly being extinguished. "Having you over-working like this for no good reason, troubling you like this... It all just has to stop already!"

At Tsuna's outburst, Haru showed herself truly shocked, his loud words having actually been processed by her; however, she remained silent. Meanwhile, Mammon was no longer smirking, instead pondering on the fact that Tsuna was lashing out in such a manner. _I didn't think he'd grow enough of a backbone to scream like that... Of course, only to be used in futile things like this._ Seeing Haru actually showing her emotions, Tsuna continued speaking, "So, Haru, don't tutor me for Mammon; you've already done enough! Just... if you're busy, or tired, or even sad, don't do any of this. Even if you aren't, you don't have to do anything either." From mental images Tsuna was seeing, he smiled. "Instead, you can just c-come over and... uh, have fun! I-I hope..."

Nervously, Tsuna glanced to the side. He hadn't realized how much he had actually said, and how heavy his words truly were before, but as he thought them over, he found himself embarrassed at how much he had spoken from only his emotions: usually, Tsuna wouldn't even have the courage to shout in such a manner. However, when it came to Haru, especially when she was in such a state, Tsuna could not help but do that for her sake. "I've... done enough?" Haru questioned, keeping a bewieldered demeanor. "Does, does that mean... I was useful? I was good enough? I can still be your friend...?"

"O-of course!" Tsuna immediately responded, finding Haru's questions so emotionally painful that he found himself stammering. "You've done way more than just 'enough'; you've been coming her almost every day! If anything, I'm only not progressing that much because I'm just that terrible..." Tsuna scratched his head nervously, feeling slight bitterness at the fact that he acknowledged his faults. While he already held his lack of talent at anything as common sense, he had recently made some effort to improve himself, so it did put him in a bad mood to think of how that could all be worthless.

"Tsuna-san..." Haru reacted in awe. Afterwards, to Tsuna's surprise, Haru pouted indignantly. "You're not terrible at all! You're just... intellectually challenged!" _That isn't very flattering...!_ However, Tsuna let that slide, happy at the fact that Haru was acting more like herself again. "But even so, you're a very, very nice person, and I'm glad I got to be your friend! Please have some confidence in yourself!"

... While Tsuna had managed a small smile, somewhat moved by Haru's genuine words telling him that he should have confidence in himself as if he had that much worth, those emotions were immediately interrupted by Mammon; Tsuna had not even been allowed any response. "Tsuna might be satisfied with your efforts, but that doesn't mean I am."

"M-Mammon!" Tsuna shouted, a shocked yet frustrated tone in his voice. _He's still going on with this?!_

Mammon smirked. "Didn't you want my brother's approval, Haru?"

"Hahii?!" Haru uttered, reminding herself of said detail. Besides, it seemed like Mammon, at least, did not consider her efforts already enough to forgive her; that fact alone saddened her greatly. "I..."

Tsuna's eyes narrowed in anger. He knew what Mammon was intending to do, and this time, he wasn't going to let him go through with it. "You don't even have a brother! Knock it off, Mammon!"

"What?!" Despite Tsuna's words being directed at Mammon, the first one to react was Haru. _What is he talking about...?!_

Regardless, Tsuna continued speaking, "Besides, no matter how much she tries, she'll never get your approval because you don't actually mean it, right?! Just show your true form and end this already!"

"T-Tsuna-san, what do you mean...?" Haru questioned, unsure whether to believe the connotations behind Tsuna's words. After all, he seemed to be hinting at the preposterous idea that Mammon was not who he seemed to be...

"You shouldn't joke around too much, Tsuna," Mammon merely responds, still smirking. "You're confusing her." While Tsuna could tell Haru the truth, he couldn't force Mammon to dispel his illusion, so he had no way to prove his claims. In other words, no matter what he would try, Mammon would end up victorious, as expected.

Tsuna stared at Mammon in awe of how heartless he could be, unsure of what to say. "Mammon, you..."

Seeing a disheartened Tsuna, Haru still found herself unsure of what to think of the situation. "Wait, so that was all a joke, right?"

"What else would it have been?" Mammon countered, making Haru feel slightly relieved: with Tsuna looking so serious, Haru had almost thought he wasn't joking despite his ridiculous words. "As I was saying, you haven't done enough yet, Haru. You're going to have to keep teaching Tsuna for a long time until you get any sort of approval from my brother: at least, until Tsuna can get a good grade, you've got to be here almost every day." It was all going according to Mammon's plan. All of it.

Tsuna looked down at the floor of his room, helpless. _He'll make her suffer again, he'll make her look lifeless again...! I can't... I can't just..._ Though tears threatened to fall from his eyes, Tsuna faced Mammon with a determined expression. _If I'm supposed to be her friend, I can't just let this happen!_ Despite that, Mammon showed himself unfazed. He knew Tsuna would act that way: he always did. In fact, throughout this situation, Tsuna had only acted like that. "E-even if you get Haru to tutor me every day, Mammon..." However, that didn't mean Tsuna was going to give up.

"... I r-refuse to learn from anyone but _you!_ " While Haru widened her eyes in suprise from the unexpected statement, Mammon simply gave Tsuna a skeptic look. From such reactions, Tsuna steeled his determination further, knowing that he couldn't afford to be sad if he wanted to get through to Mammon. "No, I swear I'll only accept you as my tutor! So, e-even if you try to manipulate Haru, it won't bring you any benefits at all! And I mean it, Mammon! The only thing Haru is to me is a friend!"

"T-Tsuna-san..." Haru was no longer relieved or sure of what was even going on between Mammon and Tsuna. From ridiculous statements to convicted assertions, Haru found herself in awe of Tsuna's attitude, as he would usually not display such a strong will to others. Not only that, but the implications of his words were still strange... However, rather than focusing on that, Haru was smiling at the fact that Tsuna truly considered her, above all, a friend.

Meanwhile, Mammon was frowning deeply. _He's really done it this time..._ Mammon thought, annoyed. Tsuna was legitimately threatening Mammon's plans with his sudden promise: after all, if he were to refuse to learn from anyone else but Mammon, there would be no point to having Haru around; Tsuna wouldn't learn either way. Besides, since Haru heard that too, she would most likely refuse to tutor him as well on the basis that it would go against Tsuna's wishes. "Hmph..."

... Reluctantly, Mammon admitted defeat. "Fine," Mammon said. Both Haru and Tsuna's expressions brightened in reaction to his words, Haru having been released of a burden she thought she was going to have to carry for a long time and Tsuna seeing his spur-of-the-moment tactic actually working. "If you really don't want any convenient situations, suit yourself. Besides, it was only a matter of time before Haru would break down, so it's not like she could be of any use for long."

"B-but it's not like your brother will disapprove of me now, right...?" Somehow unable to pick up on the utterly cruel meaning behind Mammon's words (involving him manipulating her), Haru asked that, a restless expression on her face.

While Mammon did not feel like even sparing her a glance, he faced Haru regardless. "Of course not." If he had still been wanting to look reliable in Haru's eyes, he would have said more than that, but he was now frowning, showing himself somewhat annoyed by her question. "Now, if you're only planning on wasting our time, leave; Tsuna has homework to do."

"H-Hahii...!" Haru reacted, already startled with Mammon's sudden blunt(er) attitude. Bowing three times in a row, Haru exclaimed, "I'm sorry!"

... Meanwhile, Tsuna could only stare at Mammon blankly. _I guess now that Mammon can't use Haru, he won't hold back on her at all, huh..._ Tsuna thought back on the last few weeks, when Haru was tutoring him.

 _Not that he ever held back that much to begin with..._

* * *

 **. . .**

* * *

Things were looking great for Tsuna... but not for Mammon.

The number of annoyances Mammon had to deal with increased by one, with Haru now just a friend of Tsuna's and nothing useful. In general, like the troublesome and annoying person she was to Mammon, Haru would go to Tsuna's house a few days per week to hang out with Tsuna and Yamamoto, and would stick around while Mammon was tutoring Tsuna too.

This day was no different, as in Tsuna's room were gathered Haru and Yamamoto, Tsuna's current friends. A few months back, Tsuna would not have believed he could ever gain anything even remotely close to a friend, but now that it had happened, he could not have felt any happier.

Even if he was No-Good, he was at least having fun. Tsuna smiled at that thought as he saw Yamamoto putting down his pen. "Done!" he said with a cheerful smile and handed over his exercise sheet to a somewhat annoyed Mammon.

"Hahii?! Yamamoto-san, that was faster than usual!" Haru remarked in awe, having been observing both Tsuna and Yamamoto for a while. She had already finished her own homework, which she could do well enough at Tsuna's house while everyone else was busy. Even if she hadn't gotten anything to do, she would have simply observed them anyway, as the times Haru wouldn't come around were only when she had Gymnastics club practice, very complicated schoolwork or a test was coming up. Due to that, Haru wasn't as pressured as before, and found her time with Yamamoto and Tsuna more enjoyable.

Yamamoto chuckled. "I guess I've been getting the hang of this," he responded in a carefree manner, displaying no pride for his accomplishments. Meanwhile, Tsuna was still trying hard to finish the last exercise, which Mammon couldn't help but look at in disdain while holding Yamamoto's exercise sheet in one of his tiny hands.

"... Looks like you got it right," Mammon said, displeased, "But it still doesn't change the fact that you're an idiot."

Even if that was an expected answer, Tsuna found himself shouting out, "Mammon!"

"Hahii! Mammon-san is so cold...!" While it was expected to everyone else, Haru was not as used to Mammon (at his worst, that is) as Yamamoto and Tsuna were, so she would still react in such a manner, surprised.

However, rather than unfazed, Yamamoto's smile was somehow wider after Mammon's response. "Harsh as always! You know, while Haru was helping you out, you were pretty distant so I'd barely hear you say a word, let alone that kind of stuff. Now that Haru's backed out of it, everything's a lot more fun since we're all together like this!"

"It's fun to you, but not to me," Mammon countered.

... The fact that Yamamoto chuckled from that made Mammon practically throw the paper at him, which didn't hit Yamamoto at all. "See? Before, you'd be so distant you wouldn't even say that, and Haru's not busy teaching Tsuna anymore so it's all way better than before. I'm glad everything's turned out like this!"

Tsuna, who had been listening to the conversation more than he was actually finishing his exercise, couldn't help but smile at Yamamoto's words. Ever since he had made that promise to Mammon, he had been diligently upholding it to the point of not even accepting help for any minor thing from either Yamamoto or Haru, and only relayed his doubts to Mammon. That, in turn, served to annoy Mammon further, but Tsuna had decided it was better than seeing his friends sad again.

... With that in mind, Tsuna couldn't agree more with Yamamoto's words. "Stop spacing out and finish that already."

Tsuna flinched. "S-sorry, Mammon!"

* * *

 **Author's Notes:**

* * *

And so, this Target is finally over! Phew, it sure took a whole lot of time to end, even though it wasn't even that bad to begin with. If anything, I liked that it cemented the friendship between Haru, Tsuna and Yamamoto, especially since I want that to be a thing before introducing even more characters. I mean, I could just introduce everyone but this is the Daily Life arc, so I gotta make the most of it and develop the relationships between the characters as well.

With that in mind, I think I practically jump at any opportunity to have something happen between Tsuna and Mammon in this story, it's pretty amazing. I mean, Tsuna promised Mammon he wouldn't be taught by anyone else and Mammon... still doesn't like Tsuna, but that'd be too much to ask for now ^^' If anything, to be honest, I kind of feel like Mammon is as much of a protagonist as he is an antagonist to the story, which kind of freaks me out. Like, he's basically the source of conflict in every Target XD

Also, Iemitsu: I got reminded of him because of a review and just had to write a scene of him reacting to this whole ordeal as well. Seriously, everyone's doubting the Ninth, but it seems like he has everything under control...? I guess we'll have to see how well everything plans out and just what exactly the Ninth's plan is eventually, huh? It's also great how much Tsuna and Haru are just friends since Haru didn't fall in love with Tsuna: it's a change that I'll probably never fully accept, but love anyway.

Yamamoto's so much fun to write though: somehow, he's also really compatible with everyone, like Tsuna ^^ Anyway, with this Target, you've probably noticed the amount of headcanons I've used: I mean, you never really know how Haru's school life is, but since she's a more important character now, I had to portray it in the most plausible way I could think of. Basically, there will be many headcanons, so I hope you can deal with that.

... Well, if you're here, I guess you were already prepared for them due to this story's nature. Whatever the case, look forward to the next Target? I'm pretty sure someone will be introduced there!


End file.
